New York State Teachers Retirement System Invests $85,000 in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,746 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,004,116 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $217,229,000 after acquiring an additional 310,242 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Pegasystems by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 318,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,804,000 after acquiring an additional 10,653 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,104,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 307.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 180,770 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,847,000 after buying an additional 136,444 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet upgraded Pegasystems from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Pegasystems from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.56.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $57.61 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.56. Pegasystems Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.66 and a 12-month high of $69.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 81.14 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $474.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 39.30% and a net margin of 4.73%. Equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total value of $127,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,884 shares in the company, valued at $1,585,110.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Leon Trefler sold 752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.20, for a total transaction of $48,278.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,564,148. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total value of $127,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,884 shares in the company, valued at $1,585,110.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,792 shares of company stock worth $2,781,669. 50.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.