California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,131,978 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 38,804 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.62% of Cognizant Technology Solutions worth $236,558,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 41,571 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 10,278 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 12,123 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 48,806 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position 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 valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CTSH shares. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognizant Technology Solutions has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.44.

Insider Transactions at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total value of $69,354.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $640,522.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CTSH traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.89. The company had a trading volume of 583,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,280,496. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $80.09. The firm has a market cap of $33.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a current ratio of 2.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.58.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology service provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 10.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Company Profile

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.