The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Stock Holdings in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,749 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 757 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Pegasystems during the second quarter valued at approximately $67,968,000. Luxor Capital Group LP lifted its position in Pegasystems by 7.9% during the second quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 683,939 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,399,000 after purchasing an additional 49,861 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 104.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 554,777 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,381,000 after purchasing an additional 283,508 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Pegasystems by 6.9% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,304,000 after acquiring an additional 34,416 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Pegasystems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 484,296 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total value of $43,824.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Leon Trefler sold 8,288 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.23, for a total transaction of $673,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,172.28. This represents a 18.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,615 shares of company stock worth $2,254,715. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PEGA opened at $96.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.34 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.07 and a 52 week high of $97.94.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The firm had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEGA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.90.

About Pegasystems

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.