Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $266,000 Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 6.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,639 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the third quarter worth $27,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Pegasystems by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pegasystems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Pegasystems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Pegasystems by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $93.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 68.32 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.17 and a 52-week high of $97.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.38.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. Pegasystems had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 37.83%. The company had revenue of $325.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Pegasystems’s payout ratio is 8.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $28,973.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kenneth Stillwell sold 5,792 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total transaction of $458,436.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,377,210. The trade was a 24.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,914 shares of company stock valued at $2,414,935. 50.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PEGA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Pegasystems from $99.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

Pegasystems 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.