Teacher Retirement System of Texas Lowers Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its Pegasystems stake by 7.9%, selling 119,919 shares and finishing the quarter with 1,400,086 shares valued at about $83.61 million (0.82% ownership).
• Quarterly results missed expectations: Pegasystems reported $0.46 EPS vs. $0.68 expected and $429.97M revenue vs. $473.24M expected (revenue down 9.6% YoY), with the stock down about 4.6% to $37.48 (market cap ~$6.34B).
• Insiders sold roughly 52,594 shares last quarter while analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with an average price target of $63.60, indicating mixed signals from management and Wall Street.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,400,086 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 119,919 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.82% of Pegasystems worth $83,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in Pegasystems by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 198,621 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,012,000 after buying an additional 27,169 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 261.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 316.6% in the fourth quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 704 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 33,197 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,956 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,990 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Pegasystems Stock Down 4.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA opened at $37.48 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $43.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.40. The stock has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.89 and a fifty-two week high of $68.10.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.24 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 30.46%. The firm's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total transaction of $42,880.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $144,291.20. This trade represents a 22.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 111,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,834,904.31. The trade was a 6.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,594 shares of company stock valued at $2,344,024. 49.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on PEGA shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $58.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.60.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PEGA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report).

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.