Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC Increases Position in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Key Points

• Wedbush Fund Advisers increased its Pegasystems stake by 45.3% in the second quarter, purchasing 123,045 additional shares for a total position of 394,797 shares valued at approximately $11.8 million. Other major institutions, including AQR Capital and State Street, also significantly increased their holdings.
• Pegasystems reported quarterly earnings of $0.35 per share, missing the $0.43 consensus estimate, while revenue of $420.7 million also fell short of expectations. Revenue still grew 9.4% year over year, and the company declared a $0.03 quarterly dividend.
• Shares opened at $34.00, down 0.8%, amid several analyst downgrades and price-target cuts. Wall Street’s consensus rating is “Hold”, with an average price target of $50.10.

Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 45.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 394,797 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 123,045 shares during the quarter. Pegasystems makes up 1.0% of Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Wedbush Fund Advisers LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Pegasystems worth $11,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at $286,923,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 236.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,037,552 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $217,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836,733 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 255.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,907,677 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $157,393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089,375 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the first quarter valued at about $47,817,000. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the second quarter worth about $26,168,000. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company's stock.

Pegasystems Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $34.00 on Wednesday. Pegasystems Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.10 and a twelve month high of $68.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.87.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The firm had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $427.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems's payout ratio is currently 6.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PEGA. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Pegasystems from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Pegasystems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital lowered Pegasystems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Pegasystems from a "market outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $50.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $26,062.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 2,250 shares of company stock worth $78,038 in the last 90 days. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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