Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ: CTSH – Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-three brokerages who are following the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have assigned a sell recommendation to the stock, eleven have assigned a hold rating, and three have assigned a buy rating. The average price target for the next 12 months among analysts who have covered the stock over the past year is $68.58.
CTSH has been the subject of multiple analysts reports in recent times. Monday, February 6th, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $45.00 to $53.00 and assigned the stock an “underweight” rating. Bank of America lowered its rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from “neutral” to “underperform” and set a target price of $57.00 on the stock. in a report dated January 9th. In a report published on Friday, February 3rd, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $68.00. In a report published on Tuesday, January 31st, TheStreet raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating. In research released on Friday, February 3rd, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $54.00 to $67.00.
The Views of Hedge Funds About Cognizant Technology Solutions
Recently, institutional investors have increased or decreased their interest in the firm. During the second quarter, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a $26,000 position in Cognizant Technology Solutions. During the second quarter, Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 77.0%. After acquiring an additional 171 shares during the quarter, Prospera Financial Services Inc now holds 393 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $27,000. During the third quarter, Neo Ivy Capital Management increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 75.6%. After acquiring an additional 217 shares during the quarter, Neo Ivy Capital Management now holds 504 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $29,000. During the second quarter, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new investment in Cognizant Technology Solutions for $49,000. During the third quarter, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its investment in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 492.9%. After acquiring an additional 488 shares during the quarter, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now holds 587 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds presently hold 90.12% of the company’s shares.
Tuesday’s opening price for Cognizant Technology Solutions stock on the NASDAQ was $57.98, a decrease of 4.0% from Monday’s opening price. The company has a $29.53 billion market capitalization, a PE ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22, and a beta of 1.10. The current ratio is 2.17, the quick ratio is 2.17, and the debt-to-equity ratio is 0.05 for this firm. Cognizant Technology Solutions’ one-year low price is $51.33 and its one-year high price is $93.47. The firm’s 50-day and 200-day moving averages are $63.79 and $61.05, respectively.
The most recent quarterly earnings report for Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH – Get Rating) was issued on Thursday, February 2nd. The information technology service company announced quarterly profits per share of $1.01, matching the $1.01 consensus forecast. The net margin for Cognizant Technology Solutions was 11.79%, while its return on equity was 18.92%. The company’s quarterly sales were $4.84 billion, above analyst projections of $4.78 billion. During the same period a year ago, the company generated $1.10 in EPS. The quarterly revenue of Cognizant Technology Solutions increased by 1.3% compared to the same quarter the previous year. Analysts anticipate Cognizant Technology Solutions will report 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Raises Dividend Payment
Also, the firm just announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on February 28. A $0.29 dividend per share was distributed to shareholders of record on February 17. This equals a yearly dividend of $1.16 and a yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was February 16th, Thursday. Currently, Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.24%.