Inspire Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Inspire Advisors LLC cut its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,974 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 154 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 150.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Pegasystems in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 49.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Pegasystems by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Pegasystems by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,791 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.83, for a total value of $70,560.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,563,006.59. This represents a 1.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,342 shares of company stock worth $3,903,792 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $72.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.12 and a beta of 1.25. Pegasystems Inc. has a one year low of $54.55 and a one year high of $113.67. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.34.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.88%.

Pegasystems Company 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.