Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Has $4.10 Million Stock Position in Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 74.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 43,995 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 18,800 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Pegasystems were worth $4,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 8,284 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $772,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Pegasystems during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Pegasystems by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 88,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,353,000 after purchasing an additional 7,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Pegasystems by 54.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,031 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,362,000 after purchasing an additional 49,433 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 46.89% of the company’s stock.

Pegasystems Stock Performance

NASDAQ PEGA opened at $106.51 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.68. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 77.74 and a beta of 1.09. Pegasystems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.95 and a fifty-two week high of $107.18.

Pegasystems (NASDAQ:PEGA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $325.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.16 million. Pegasystems had a return on equity of 37.83% and a net margin of 8.29%. Pegasystems’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pegasystems Inc. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pegasystems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Pegasystems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total transaction of $43,824.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 1,000 shares of Pegasystems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.07, for a total value of $80,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,772,818.33. This represents a 2.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,914 shares of company stock valued at $2,414,935 over the last quarter. 50.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PEGA. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Pegasystems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Pegasystems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on Pegasystems from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Pegasystems from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pegasystems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.91.

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.