Fluent Financial LLC Buys New Stake in Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Fluent Financial LLC bought a new stake in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,668 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $739,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. EFG International AG purchased a new position in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Pegasystems by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC increased its position in Pegasystems by 302.2% during the 1st quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 929 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position 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 buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pegasystems Price Performance

Shares of Pegasystems stock opened at $32.74 on Monday. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.10 and a 52 week high of $68.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 0.87.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $420.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $427.38 million. Pegasystems had a net margin of 18.66% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.78%.

Insider Activity at Pegasystems

In other Pegasystems news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.35, for a total transaction of $151,575.75. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,570,784.50. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total value of $26,062.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,795 shares of company stock valued at $229,613 in the last ninety days. 48.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down from $48.00) on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Pegasystems from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson set a $32.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Pegasystems from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.10.

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.