Castleark Management LLC Acquires 12,220 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Castleark Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,630 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 12,220 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Pegasystems worth $8,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 19,597 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,875 shares of the technology company's stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 85.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 323 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,394 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 150.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PEGA. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Pegasystems from $119.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Pegasystems from $118.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Pegasystems from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.27.

Pegasystems Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA traded down $3.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $96.04. The company had a trading volume of 810,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 751,637. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.09 and a beta of 1.14. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.71 and a 1-year high of $113.67. The firm's 50 day moving average is $81.08 and its 200-day moving average is $88.23.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.015 dividend. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 5.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $2,437,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,353,860.68. This represents a 0.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.25, for a total value of $49,625.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,020 shares of company stock valued at $9,801,875 over the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.