Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Increases Stake in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 309.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,587 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,778 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 37,892 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 13,145 shares in the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 70.0% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,154,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at $232,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $65.49 on Wednesday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.84 and a 52 week high of $68.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.95 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.12. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. The firm had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 17,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.40, for a total transaction of $1,140,154.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,487,646.40. This trade represents a 11.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total transaction of $270,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 72,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,915,662.40. This trade represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 207,600 shares of company stock worth $12,232,922 in the last three months. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEGA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Saturday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.61.

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.