Sienna Gestion Buys 527 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Sienna Gestion grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,727 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the quarter. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,045,823 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,254,178,000 after purchasing an additional 6,933,908 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 18,609,898 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,265,473,000 after buying an additional 1,943,127 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,781,273 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $569,175,000 after buying an additional 101,078 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,565,974 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $378,483,000 after acquiring an additional 94,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 19,850.5% during the second quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 3,016,114 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $205,096,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In related news, CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti sold 6,728 shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.66, for a total value of $495,584.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 46,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,419,812.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CTSH shares. Bank of America raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.44.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

CTSH stock opened at $75.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $37.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.32 and a 200-day moving average of $71.45. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 12-month low of $62.14 and a 12-month high of $80.27.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 11.39%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. 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.