Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Acquires 63,736 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 78.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 145,206 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 63,736 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $7,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 274.2% in the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 139.7% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 159.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 50.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 599 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the first quarter worth about $57,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 4,425 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.25, for a total transaction of $297,581.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,853.50. This trade represents a 95.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 14,865 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $942,441.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 118,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,531,856.60. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 203,600 shares of company stock valued at $12,002,082. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. DA Davidson raised Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.61.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA stock opened at $63.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.84. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.84 and a 52-week high of $68.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.71 and a beta of 1.08.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $351.95 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

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.