CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $153.25.

A number of analysts have commented on GIB shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CGI from $118.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of CGI in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of CGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CGI

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in CGI by 1.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 16,290,487 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,876,550,000 after purchasing an additional 230,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,942,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $869,067,000 after acquiring an additional 128,285 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 23.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,513,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,072,000 after acquiring an additional 861,771 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,384,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $505,173,000 after acquiring an additional 114,864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of CGI by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,843,289 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $419,976,000 after acquiring an additional 567,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.68% of the company’s stock.

CGI Stock Performance

Shares of GIB stock opened at $119.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. CGI has a 12 month low of $96.92 and a 12 month high of $122.79.

CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.41 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%. Analysts forecast that CGI will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CGI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.1039 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. CGI’s payout ratio is 7.41%.

About CGI

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.