KBC Group NV Boosts Stake in SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC)

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) by 80.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 166,895 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 74,457 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in SS&C Technologies were worth $12,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SSNC. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in SS&C Technologies during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SS&C Technologies during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in SS&C Technologies by 43.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in SS&C Technologies by 6,300.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in SS&C Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. 96.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on SSNC shares. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SS&C Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on SS&C Technologies from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of SS&C Technologies in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on SS&C Technologies from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.75.

Insider Activity at SS&C Technologies

In related news, Director Michael Jay Zamkow sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total value of $1,443,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,098.72. This represents a 45.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Rahul Kanwar sold 412,190 shares of SS&C Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.13, for a total transaction of $30,143,454.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 57,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,215,359.46. This trade represents a 87.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 561,190 shares of company stock valued at $41,386,285. 15.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SS&C Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ SSNC opened at $73.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.44 and a twelve month high of $77.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.03 and a 200 day moving average of $68.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.31 and a beta of 1.39.

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The technology company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. SS&C Technologies had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 12.26%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SS&C Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This is an increase from SS&C Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. SS&C Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 35.84%.

SS&C Technologies declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 25th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

SS&C Technologies Profile

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and software-enabled services to financial services and healthcare industries. The company owns and operates technology stack across securities accounting; front-office functions, such as trading and modeling; middle-office functions comprising portfolio management and reporting; back-office functions, such as accounting, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing, and compliance and tax reporting; and healthcare solutions consisting of claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence solutions.