Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 1,368 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,555 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,368 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank increased its position in Pegasystems by 2,166.3% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,589 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 23,504 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 207.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,203 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,283,000 after buying an additional 14,296 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,149,000. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,598,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 50,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on PEGA. Wedbush lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total transaction of $43,824.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total value of $71,139.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,489,226.40. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,415 shares of company stock valued at $1,667,761 in the last three months. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pegasystems Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $96.43 on Friday. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.07 and a twelve month high of $97.94. The company has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a PE ratio of 70.39 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $82.01 and its 200 day moving average is $69.89.

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

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.12%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio 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.