Optimist Retirement Group LLC Purchases 165 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 5.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,434 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Bares Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,862,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,434,000 after purchasing an additional 90,993 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,369,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,067,000 after purchasing an additional 250,273 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% in the fourth quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 625,471 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,561,000 after purchasing an additional 143,986 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 6.9% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 533,948 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,304,000 after purchasing an additional 34,416 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,784,000. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PEGA shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised shares of Pegasystems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $70,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,535,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $70,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,535,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 15,271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.25, for a total transaction of $1,057,516.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 371,787 shares in the company, valued at $25,746,249.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,955 shares of company stock worth $3,303,771. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $66.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.92 and a beta of 1.07. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.66 and a 12-month high of $72.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $66.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.60.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $351.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.55 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 49.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.41) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 14.63%.

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.