Fiera Capital Corp Grows Holdings in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Fiera Capital Corp increased its Pegasystems stake by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 274,219 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 1,113,171 shares worth about $66.5 million.
• Insider selling continued at Pegasystems, with executives Rifat Kerim Akgonul and Efstathios A. Kouninis both selling shares, while insiders collectively sold 58,639 shares over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain moderately positive despite recent weakness; the stock has an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $63.70, but Pegasystems recently missed earnings and revenue estimates and trades well below its 52-week high.

Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,113,171 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 274,219 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.66% of Pegasystems worth $66,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PEGA. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 141,900.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 4,257 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 450.4% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,844 shares of the technology company's stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 248,168 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,253,000 after purchasing an additional 13,075 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 155,783 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,830,000 after purchasing an additional 23,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,476 shares of the technology company's stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total transaction of $329,503.66. Following the transaction, the insider owned 111,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,834,904.31. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total transaction of $42,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,365 shares in the company, valued at $144,291.20. This represents a 22.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,639 shares of company stock worth $2,549,404. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.70.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $34.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $37.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.28. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.00 and a 52-week high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.05%. Pegasystems's revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio is currently 6.45%.

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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