New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 45,233 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 48.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,966 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 45,233 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $12,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Pegasystems by 166.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 70,432 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,148,000 after purchasing an additional 44,035 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 709.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 97,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,131,000 after buying an additional 85,505 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $310,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the third quarter valued at $604,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the third quarter worth $57,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.36.

Pegasystems Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $77.89 on Monday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.55 and a 12-month high of $113.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.12 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $97.83 and a 200 day moving average of $84.66.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. Sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 11.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 7,742 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $655,902.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,225,559.52. This represents a 34.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total transaction of $28,973.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,745 shares of company stock valued at $2,001,989. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

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.