Copeland Capital Management LLC Acquires 370,824 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Copeland Capital Management increased its Pegasystems stake by 26.4%, purchasing 370,824 shares to own 1.78 million shares worth approximately $59.2 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 46.89% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: five analysts rate PEGA a Buy and eight rate it Hold, producing an overall “Hold” consensus and an average price target of $45.90.
• Pegasystems reported quarterly earnings of $0.35 per share, below the $0.43 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 9.4% year over year to $420.72 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share.

Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 26.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,777,785 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 370,824 shares during the period. Pegasystems accounts for approximately 1.3% of Copeland Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Copeland Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.08% of Pegasystems worth $59,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Pegasystems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,770,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 52.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,052,205 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,782,000 after purchasing an additional 363,896 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 117.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 814,062 shares of the technology company's stock worth $34,427,000 after purchasing an additional 439,417 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 58.6% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 137,302 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,844,000 after purchasing an additional 50,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at approximately $18,232,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PEGA. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Pegasystems from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $35.00 price objective on Pegasystems and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Pegasystems from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pegasystems currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.90.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Kerim Akgonul sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.03, for a total transaction of $252,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 104,804 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,776,088.12. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 39,627 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total value of $1,417,457.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 95,225 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,406,198.25. The trade was a 29.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 53,672 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,657. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $34.38 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $34.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.63. The firm has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84 and a beta of 0.89. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.10 and a twelve month high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $420.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 18.66%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 6.78%.

About Pegasystems

Pegasystems Inc is an enterprise software company that develops applications for customer engagement, business process management and workflow automation. Its software is designed to help organizations manage complex operations, improve customer service and automate decision-making across departments and channels.

The company's product portfolio includes Pega Platform, a low-code application development and process automation platform, as well as solutions for customer relationship management, customer service, sales automation, marketing, fraud detection and case management.

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