234,783 Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation $CTSH Shares Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 15.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,292,115 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 234,783 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $74,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,404,918 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $392,947,000 after acquiring an additional 222,819 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 9.2% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 6,177,881 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $379,013,000 after purchasing an additional 520,532 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 925.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,358 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $141,456,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296,205 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 27.2% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,471,681 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $213,004,000 after purchasing an additional 742,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 289.6% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 2,905,584 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $166,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159,704 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CTSH. Robert W. Baird set a $68.00 price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC set a $78.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Monday, October 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognizant Technology Solutions has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of CTSH stock opened at $63.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.45 and a 200-day moving average of $58.70. The company has a market cap of $28.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation has a 52 week low of $37.08 and a 52 week high of $87.03.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The information technology service provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 17.72%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 24.09%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Profile

Cognizant Technology Solutions is a professional services company that helps businesses use technology to modernize operations and develop digital capabilities. Its services include IT consulting, application development and maintenance, cloud and infrastructure services, data and artificial intelligence, engineering, and business process services.

The company serves clients across industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, communications, media, and retail. Its operations span North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with a significant global delivery network.

Cognizant was established in 1994 as a technology unit of Dun & Bradstreet and became an independent company in 1996.