Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) Stock Holdings Lowered by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,700 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $5,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CTSH. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 47.4% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 454 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 42.1% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 533 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti sold 6,728 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,419,812.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CTSH. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped 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 note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.58.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

NASDAQ CTSH opened at $74.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.82. The company has a market cap of $37.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1 year low of $62.14 and a 1 year high of $80.27.

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

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.85%.

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.