ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Holdings in SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 330,352 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,077 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in SS&C Technologies were worth $25,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of SS&C Technologies by 43.3% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in SS&C Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $68,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 949 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of SS&C Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of SS&C Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.95% of the company’s stock.

SS&C Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SSNC opened at $78.50 on Tuesday. SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $59.20 and a one year high of $79.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The technology company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.03. SS&C Technologies had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

SS&C Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. SS&C Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on SSNC. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of SS&C Technologies from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered SS&C Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at SS&C Technologies

In related news, SVP Jason Douglas White sold 69,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $5,317,830.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $494,172.84. This represents a 91.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William C. Stone sold 247,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $18,945,653.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,837,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,439,103,510.86. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 449,000 shares of company stock valued at $34,461,478. 15.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and software-enabled services to financial services and healthcare industries. The company owns and operates technology stack across securities accounting; front-office functions, such as trading and modeling; middle-office functions comprising portfolio management and reporting; back-office functions, such as accounting, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing, and compliance and tax reporting; and healthcare solutions consisting of claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence solutions.