Vanguard Group Inc. Has $654.51 Million Position in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position by 2.8% in Q4 and now holds 10,959,704 shares of Pegasystems—about $654.51 million or 6.46% of the company.
• Significant insider selling: insiders have sold 52,594 shares (~$2.34 million) in the past three months, including CFO Kenneth Stillwell’s 44,000-share sale (a 28.74% cut), while corporate insiders still own roughly 49.7% of the stock.
• Operational/market pressure: Pegasystems missed the quarter with $0.46 EPS vs. $0.68 expected and revenue of $429.97M vs. $473.24M (down 9.6% YoY); the stock trades near $36.20 with an average analyst target of $63.70 ("Moderate Buy").

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,959,704 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 312,655 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.46% of Pegasystems worth $654,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 4,257 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 450.4% during 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 248,168 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,253,000 after acquiring an additional 13,075 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 18.0% during 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 valued at $10,830,000 after acquiring an additional 23,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 55.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,476 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,834,904.31. This represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 44,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.81, for a total transaction of $1,971,640.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,123 shares in the company, valued at $4,889,801.63. This trade represents a 28.74% 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 52,594 shares of company stock valued at $2,344,024. 49.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.70.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $36.20 on Monday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.33 and a 12 month high of $68.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 0.88.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 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 business had revenue of $429.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $473.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.94 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 given a dividend of $0.03 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 6.45%.

Pegasystems Company 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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