Delta Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC lowered its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,310 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 586 shares during the period. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $1,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CTSH. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 67,119 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $5,070,000 after purchasing an additional 20,874 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,227,411 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $83,145,000 after purchasing an additional 324,638 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 74,411 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $5,041,000 after purchasing an additional 26,035 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 110.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,344,587 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $91,082,000 after buying an additional 704,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 237.3% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 62,264 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after buying an additional 43,806 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In related news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total transaction of $69,354.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $640,522.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CTSH. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Societe Generale reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.65.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CTSH traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $67.45. 1,414,893 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,295,988. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a current ratio of 2.25. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $80.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.87 and its 200-day moving average is $72.55.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology service provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 10.98%. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. This is a boost from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Company Profile

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a professional services company, provides consulting and technology, and outsourcing services in North America, Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology.