Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 25,901 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 819,282 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $59,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush raised their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 6,200 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.67, for a total value of $586,954.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,748,176.22. This trade represents a 25.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 a total of 26,914 shares of company stock worth $2,283,688 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $95.24 on Friday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.07 and a 12 month high of $97.94. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 69.52 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.71.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 8.76%.

Pegasystems Company 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.