Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 152,645 Shares of Pegasystems Inc. $PEGA

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) by 56.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,099 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 152,645 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Pegasystems worth $4,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Pegasystems in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,212,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Pegasystems during the first quarter valued at $905,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 13.1% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 32,079 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,727 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pegasystems by 54.1% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,908 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Pegasystems by 663.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 618,753 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,334,000 after purchasing an additional 537,683 shares during the last quarter. 46.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pegasystems Trading Up 1.7%

PEGA stock opened at $30.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.67. Pegasystems Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.10 and a 1-year high of $68.10.

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

Pegasystems Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital downgraded Pegasystems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson set a $32.00 target price on Pegasystems and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. KeyCorp lowered Pegasystems from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citigroup cut Pegasystems from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Pegasystems in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Rifat Kerim Akgonul sold 4,545 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Efstathios A. Kouninis sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $26,062.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,566.50. This trade represents a 20.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 6,795 shares of company stock worth $229,613 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 48.40% of the company’s stock.

About Pegasystems

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.