LVW Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

LVW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 14.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,137 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after buying an additional 774 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vision Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vision Capital Management Inc. now owns 38,612 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $2,916,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.6% in the first quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 29,226 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $2,142,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 590 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com lowered Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.44.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

NASDAQ CTSH opened at $67.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.34. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $62.14 and a 1-year high of $80.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The information technology service provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.01. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.48% and a net margin of 10.84%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.85%.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

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.