Portfolio Design Labs LLC Purchases New Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,016 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 127.7% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 337 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 188.4% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 447 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 477 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total transaction of $400,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 39,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,126,052.42. This represents a 11.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 0.2 %

Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $88.08 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 12-month low of $63.79 and a 12-month high of $88.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.83 and its 200 day moving average is $77.84. The company has a market capitalization of $43.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.07.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CTSH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.67.

Cognizant Technology Solutions 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.