Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 1,572 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,820 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $1,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PEGA. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 119.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,142,547 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $172,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164,581 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $14,212,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Pegasystems by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,004,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,229,000 after acquiring an additional 310,242 shares during the period. Scopia Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,195,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pegasystems by 208.7% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 238,501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,344,000 after acquiring an additional 161,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on PEGA shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Monday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.56.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

PEGA opened at $58.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.34 and a beta of 1.06. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.66 and a 1-year high of $69.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.26. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $474.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $428.76 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 39.30%. Equities analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares in the company, valued at $1,549,875.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 20,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total transaction of $1,301,681.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 24,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,549,875.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard H. Jones sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.39, for a total transaction of $633,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 379,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,066,520.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders 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.