Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA - Free Report) by 210.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 407,321 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 276,273 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.48% of Pegasystems worth $37,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PEGA. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,541 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $796,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Pegasystems by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,875 shares of the technology company's stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,075,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,801,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 860,361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,188,000 after acquiring an additional 164,986 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In related news, insider Leon Trefler sold 2,049 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.65, for a total transaction of $155,006.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 52,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,935,237.35. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.41, for a total transaction of $2,154,915.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 17,184,614 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,175,599,443.74. This represents a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,762 shares of company stock worth $10,175,542 over the last 90 days. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $118.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Pegasystems from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.27.

Pegasystems Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEGA traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $94.15. 180,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 692,715. The stock has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 93.23 and a beta of 1.22. The business's fifty day moving average is $74.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.41. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $55.71 and a one year high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.015 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Pegasystems's payout ratio is 5.83%.

Pegasystems Profile

Pegasystems Inc develops, markets, licenses, hosts, and supports enterprise software in the United States, rest of the Americas, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company provides Pega Infinity, a software portfolio comprising of Pega Customer Decision Hub, a real-time AI-powered decision engine to enhance customer acquisition and experiences across inbound, outbound, and paid media channels; Pega Customer Service to anticipate customer needs, connect customers to people and systems, and automate customer interactions to evolve the customer service experience, as well as to allow enterprises to deliver interactions across channels and enhance employee productivity; and Pega Platform, an intelligent automation software for increasing efficiency of clients' processes and workflows.