Shannon River Fund Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Shannon River Fund Management LLC raised its stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 798,356 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,989 shares during the quarter. Pegasystems makes up approximately 11.0% of Shannon River Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Shannon River Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $74,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PEGA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $372,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 16,230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 4,011 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 84,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,829,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.36.

Pegasystems Price Performance

PEGA stock opened at $68.94 on Tuesday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.55 and a 1 year high of $113.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 68.26 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.97 and its 200-day moving average is $85.53.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 32.09%. On average, analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.015 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.09%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 11.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 2,049 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.65, for a total value of $155,006.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,935,237.35. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total value of $2,437,470.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,353,860.68. The trade was a 0.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 80,791 shares of company stock valued at $6,134,554. Corporate insiders own 50.10% of the company’s stock.

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.