State of Michigan Retirement System Invests $1.16 Million in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

State of Michigan Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 21,400 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,158,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEGA. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Pegasystems by 139.7% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 549 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 274.2% in the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Pegasystems by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 159.8% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems in the first quarter worth $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Leon Trefler sold 14,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.40, for a total transaction of $942,441.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 118,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,531,856.60. This trade represents a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 11,442 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.18, for a total value of $711,463.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,826 shares in the company, valued at $7,948,220.68. This trade represents a 8.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 203,895 shares of company stock worth $12,179,202 over the last ninety days. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

Shares of PEGA opened at $59.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.63. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.84 and a fifty-two week high of $68.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.66 and a beta of 1.09.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $381.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.95 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 43.49%. Pegasystems’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio is 8.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PEGA shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Pegasystems from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.61.

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.