Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA Stock Position Lifted by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 48.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,164,063 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 379,927 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $63,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Pegasystems by 4,286.4% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 965 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,584,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 14,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 1st quarter valued at about $715,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Pegasystems by 18.5% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,567 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,904 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Pegasystems stock opened at $54.37 on Tuesday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.84 and a 12-month high of $68.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.61.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson upgraded Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 17,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,487,646.40. The trade was a 11.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.08, for a total value of $270,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 72,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,915,662.40. This represents a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 203,895 shares of company stock worth $12,179,202 over the last three months. Company insiders own 49.70% of the company’s stock.

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.