Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 148,081 Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 148,081 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,801,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Pegasystems as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 4.9% in the 4th 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 raised its stake in Pegasystems by 48.0% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Pegasystems by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pegasystems by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 16,230 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after acquiring an additional 4,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 84,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on PEGA shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $118.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Pegasystems from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.27.

Pegasystems Trading Up 0.5 %

Pegasystems stock opened at $68.34 on Friday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $113.67. The stock has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.66 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.35.

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

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.015 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is currently 11.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total value of $139,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,245 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.75. The trade was a 8.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 17,308,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. This trade represents 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 worth $6,134,554. 50.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.