Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Purchases 81,461 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 186.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 125,168 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,461 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $9,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,111,915 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $3,860,483,000 after purchasing an additional 7,445,089 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 532,677 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $39,242,000 after acquiring an additional 38,526 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,523 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,795 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions in the fourth quarter worth about $1,786,000. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CTSH. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $81.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognizant Technology Solutions has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.12.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Down 3.0 %

CTSH stock traded down $2.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.00. The company had a trading volume of 4,043,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,397,573. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.46. The company has a market capitalization of $36.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.85. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a fifty-two week low of $62.14 and a fifty-two week high of $80.27.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 11.39%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 20th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.85%.

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.