9,573,688 Shares in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA Purchased by BlackRock Inc.

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 9.57 million Pegasystems shares worth approximately $286.9 million, giving it a 5.82% stake in the software company. Institutional investors collectively own 46.89% of PEGA.
• Pegasystems’ latest quarterly results fell short of expectations: earnings per share came in at $0.35 versus the $0.43 consensus, while revenue reached $420.7 million, up 9.4% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with six Buy ratings and seven Holds producing a consensus “Hold” rating and a $50.10 price target. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, yielding about 0.4%.

BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,573,688 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $286,923,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 5.82% of Pegasystems at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. EFG International AG purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Signature Equity Partners LLC boosted its position in Pegasystems by 302.2% during the first quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total value of $26,062.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares in the company, valued at $100,566.50. This represents a 20.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 3,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total transaction of $101,970.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 108,049 shares in the company, valued at $3,672,585.51. This trade represents a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,250 shares of company stock worth $180,008. Insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Pegasystems Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of PEGA opened at $33.83 on Thursday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.10 and a 52-week high of $68.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 0.87. The firm's fifty day moving average is $31.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.56.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 18.66%.The business had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $427.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is currently 6.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PEGA. DA Davidson set a $32.00 price objective on Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Pegasystems from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair cut shares of Pegasystems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.10.

Pegasystems Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems' offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.

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