Stifel Financial Corp Takes Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,391 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 7.9% in the second quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $41,399,000 after purchasing an additional 49,861 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 104.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company's stock worth $33,381,000 after purchasing an additional 283,508 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,304,000 after purchasing an additional 34,416 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Pegasystems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 484,296 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,397,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.17, for a total value of $73,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,263,060.54. The trade was a 5.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,914 shares of company stock worth $2,283,688 over the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pegasystems Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA traded down $1.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $94.46. 260,428 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 532,628. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.95 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.07 and a twelve month high of $97.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.99.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.76%.

Pegasystems Profile

Pegasystems Inc develops, markets, licenses, hosts, and supports enterprise software in the United States, rest of the Americas, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company provides Pega Infinity, a software portfolio comprising of Pega Customer Decision Hub, a real-time AI-powered decision engine to enhance customer acquisition and experiences across inbound, outbound, and paid media channels; Pega Customer Service to anticipate customer needs, connect customers to people and systems, and automate customer interactions to evolve the customer service experience, as well as to allow enterprises to deliver interactions across channels and enhance employee productivity; and Pega Platform, an intelligent automation software for increasing efficiency of clients' processes and workflows.