3,854 Shares in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) Purchased by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,854 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 98,929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,220,000 after purchasing an additional 5,645 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 189.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $220,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546,281 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Pegasystems by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pegasystems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,838,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Pegasystems by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,116,000 after purchasing an additional 8,055 shares during the period. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PEGA shares. Barclays decreased their price target on Pegasystems from $103.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Pegasystems in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Pegasystems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.36.

Insider Transactions at Pegasystems

In other news, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 7,742 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $655,902.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,466 shares in the company, valued at $1,225,559.52. This represents a 34.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Alan Trefler sold 31,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.38, for a total transaction of $2,437,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 17,308,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,353,860.68. This represents a 0.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 80,791 shares of company stock worth $6,134,554 over the last quarter. 50.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pegasystems Stock Up 1.0 %

PEGA opened at $68.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.26 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.53. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.55 and a 52 week high of $113.67.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.20). Pegasystems had a return on equity of 32.09% and a net margin of 6.63%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.09%. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.88%.

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.