Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 254,700 shares, a decrease of 16.8% from the November 30th total of 306,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 144,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Sapiens International

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Sapiens International by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 101,356 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,439,000 after acquiring an additional 15,098 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sapiens International by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,392 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Sapiens International by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 2,364 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sapiens International by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 138,844 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,711,000 after acquiring an additional 27,600 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sapiens International by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 137,142 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,653,000 after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPNS. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Sapiens International in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on Sapiens International from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered Sapiens International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Sapiens International from $44.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sapiens International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

Sapiens International Stock Performance

Shares of SPNS opened at $26.74 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06 and a beta of 1.15. Sapiens International has a 12 month low of $26.34 and a 12 month high of $41.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.12.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The technology company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.01). Sapiens International had a return on equity of 17.61% and a net margin of 13.23%. The business had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Sapiens International’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Sapiens International will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sapiens International Company Profile

Sapiens International Corporation N.V. provides software solutions for the insurance industry in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides various solutions for property and casualty commercial and personal lines, life and pensions, and reinsurance fields.