Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Purchases 21,124 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 230,391 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,124 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. owned 0.14% of Pegasystems worth $13,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Pegasystems by 321.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Pegasystems by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in Pegasystems by 316.6% during the 4th quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of PEGA stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.34. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.00 and a 52 week high of $68.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.22). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 30.05% and a net margin of 20.04%.The company had revenue of $429.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $473.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $78.00 to $58.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pegasystems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.88, for a total value of $42,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,291.20. This trade represents a 22.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 7,594 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total transaction of $329,503.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,834,904.31. The trade was a 6.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,639 shares of company stock valued at $2,549,404. 48.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pegasystems Profile

Pegasystems Inc is a software company specializing in customer engagement and digital process automation solutions. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pegasystems develops enterprise applications designed to help organizations streamline operations, manage customer interactions and automate complex workflows. Its platform supports a wide range of use cases, from sales and marketing optimization to case management and robotic process automation.

The core of Pegasystems’ offering is the Pega Platform, a low-code development environment that enables businesses to build and deploy applications with minimal hand-coding.