SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $36,000 in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 467 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 146.9% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,644,723 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $126,940,000 after buying an additional 978,579 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 2,478,364 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $191,280,000 after buying an additional 943,372 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,985,816 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,928,405,000 after buying an additional 867,176 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,744,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,784,668 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $214,141,000 after buying an additional 705,946 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTSH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.67.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Down 1.8 %

CTSH stock opened at $82.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50-day moving average is $82.23 and its 200 day moving average is $79.38. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 12-month low of $63.79 and a 12-month high of $90.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

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.