Next Century Growth Investors LLC Makes New Investment in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Next Century Growth Investors LLC initiated a new position in Pegasystems, buying 116,666 shares worth about $7.0 million in the fourth quarter.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted their holdings, and institutions now own about 46.89% of Pegasystems, while insiders hold 48.40%.
• Analyst sentiment remains fairly positive despite some mixed signals: Pegasystems has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $63.30, even after recent earnings missed expectations and revenue declined year over year.

Next Century Growth Investors LLC bought a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 116,666 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,967,000. Next Century Growth Investors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Pegasystems as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 1.4% in the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,652 shares of the technology company's stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 5.0% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the technology company's stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,378 shares of the technology company's stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 96.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 60.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the technology company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $27,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,306.56. This represents a 25.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total value of $151,575.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 7,045 shares of company stock valued at $248,261 in the last quarter. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PEGA shares. Zacks Research downgraded Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Pegasystems from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Eight investment 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Pegasystems Price Performance

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $32.76 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.56. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.46 and a 52 week high of $68.10. The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.The company had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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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