713,976 Shares in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 713,976 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $66,542,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.83% of Pegasystems as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 3.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 819,282 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,895,000 after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 637,999 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,462,000 after buying an additional 153,703 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Pegasystems by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 468,393 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $43,654,000 after buying an additional 119,439 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 323,735 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,172,000 after acquiring an additional 36,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 322,424 shares of the technology company's stock worth $23,566,000 after acquiring an additional 11,102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.63, for a total value of $211,260.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at $1,528,043.58. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.93, for a total transaction of $2,234,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 17,247,614 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,223,373,261.02. The trade was a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 81,543 shares of company stock valued at $6,253,614. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pegasystems Trading Up 3.7 %

PEGA stock traded up $2.68 during trading on Monday, reaching $75.57. The stock had a trading volume of 510,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 618,336. The firm has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a PE ratio of 74.82 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50 day moving average is $89.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.57. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.08%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.88%.

About Pegasystems

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.