AtonRa Partners Sells 1,155 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

AtonRa Partners reduced its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,341 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,155 shares during the quarter. AtonRa Partners’ holdings in Pegasystems were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 219.3% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 530 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 80.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter worth $85,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, TheStreet raised Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.33.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA traded down $0.97 during trading on Monday, hitting $60.83. The company had a trading volume of 800,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 498,741. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.66 and a 12 month high of $69.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.18 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.27.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 45.00%. As a group, analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $25,576.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total transaction of $48,278.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,940 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,148. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 395 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $25,576.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669. Corporate insiders own 50.20% of the company’s stock.

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.