CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, an increase of 23.8% from the February 28th total of 2,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 256,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.2 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GIB. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CGI from $118.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $192.00 price objective on shares of CGI in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CGI

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CGI by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 998,470 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $115,844,000 after purchasing an additional 79,362 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of CGI by 182.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 476,758 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,808,000 after buying an additional 308,040 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 39,784 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,574,000 after buying an additional 6,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in CGI by 21.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 96,516 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,118,000 after acquiring an additional 16,844 shares during the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CGI Stock Performance

GIB traded up $1.00 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $100.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 380,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,348. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.29. CGI has a 52-week low of $95.98 and a 52-week high of $122.79. The company has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.96.

CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41. CGI had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 19.32%. On average, equities analysts forecast that CGI will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CGI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.1039 per share. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.41%.

CGI Company Profile

CGI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) and business process services. Its services include the business and strategic IT consulting, systems integration, and software solutions. The company also provides application development, modernization and maintenance, holistic enterprise digitization, automation, hybrid and cloud management, and business process services; intellectual property-based solutions; business consulting; managed IT services; and IT infrastructure services.