Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Short Interest Up 28.7% in February

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 248,300 shares, a growth of 28.7% from the February 13th total of 193,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 185,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Sapiens International from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Sapiens International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Sapiens International in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut Sapiens International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Sapiens International in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Sapiens International Price Performance

SPNS traded down $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $27.73. The stock had a trading volume of 45,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 148,805. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.87 and a 200-day moving average of $30.55. Sapiens International has a fifty-two week low of $25.01 and a fifty-two week high of $41.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The technology company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.01). Sapiens International had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The company had revenue of $134.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.89 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sapiens International will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sapiens International

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPNS. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of Sapiens International by 451.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,131,426 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,168,000 after buying an additional 926,405 shares during the last quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sapiens International in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,147,000. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Sapiens International by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 932,703 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,062,000 after buying an additional 369,947 shares during the last quarter. Nine Ten Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sapiens International by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Nine Ten Capital Management LLC now owns 1,074,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,866,000 after purchasing an additional 155,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Sapiens International by 100.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 153,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,134,000 after purchasing an additional 77,219 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 30.73% of the company’s stock.

Sapiens International Company Profile

Sapiens International Corporation N.V. provides software solutions for the insurance industry in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides various solutions for property and casualty commercial and personal lines, life and pensions, and reinsurance fields.