Wedmont Private Capital Buys New Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,948 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,111,915 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,860,483,000 after acquiring an additional 7,445,089 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 532,677 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $39,242,000 after acquiring an additional 38,526 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,523 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.5% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,795 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $1,786,000. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $81.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognizant Technology Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti sold 6,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.66, for a total transaction of $495,584.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,419,812.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CTSH opened at $74.27 on Wednesday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a twelve month low of $62.14 and a twelve month high of $80.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.05.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.85%.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

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.