Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation $CTSH

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 69,869 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,707,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 20,262,362 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,243,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,633,683 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,534,198 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $840,669,000 after purchasing an additional 987,395 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $690,959,000. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $673,651,000. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 6,680,508 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $554,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122,600 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTSH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Dbs Bank dropped their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $55.00 price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Friday, July 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 1.4%

Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $63.06 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $28.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.82. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation has a twelve month low of $37.08 and a twelve month high of $87.03.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The information technology service provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.48 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 10.26%.The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Cognizant Technology Solutions has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.700-5.820 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, May 18th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology service provider to repurchase up to 9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.39%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Company Profile

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a global professional services company that provides information technology, consulting and business process services to large enterprises. Its core offerings include digital engineering, application development and maintenance, cloud migration and managed services, data analytics and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and industry-specific solutions. Cognizant works with clients to design and implement technology-enabled transformations that address customer experience, operational efficiency and new product and service delivery.

Founded in the 1990s and headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, Cognizant has grown into a multinational organization with delivery centers and operations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.