Fisher Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management increased its Pegasystems stake by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, ending with 1,170,377 shares worth about $69.9 million.
• Insiders have been selling shares: over the last three months, company insiders sold 57,139 shares, including notable sales by Rifat Kerim Akgonul and CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis.
• Pegasystems missed earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $0.46 EPS versus $0.68 expected and revenue of $429.97 million, while analysts still maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a $63.70 average price target.

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,170,377 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,643 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.69% of Pegasystems worth $69,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Pegasystems by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,652 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $785,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 929 shares of the technology company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 76,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,425,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 5.0% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In related news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total transaction of $329,503.66. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,429 shares in the company, valued at $4,834,904.31. The trade was a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 value of $42,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,365 shares in the company, valued at $144,291.20. This represents a 22.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 57,139 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,599. Corporate insiders own 48.40% of the company's stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $34.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.74. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $68.10.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $65.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.70.

About Pegasystems

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.