CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the November 15th total of 1,290,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 135,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised CGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of CGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, CIBC raised CGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.00.

Institutional Trading of CGI

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of CGI by 23.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,513,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,072,000 after acquiring an additional 861,771 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in CGI by 68.2% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,368,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $157,485,000 after purchasing an additional 555,017 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of CGI by 182.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 476,758 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,808,000 after buying an additional 308,040 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of CGI by 1.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 16,290,487 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,876,550,000 after buying an additional 230,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in CGI by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,384,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $505,173,000 after acquiring an additional 114,864 shares during the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CGI Stock Performance

Shares of GIB stock traded down $0.47 on Tuesday, hitting $109.74. The company had a trading volume of 147,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 151,242. The firm has a market cap of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.94. CGI has a twelve month low of $96.92 and a twelve month high of $118.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $112.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

CGI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.111 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. CGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.18%.

About CGI

CGI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) and business process services. Its services include the business and strategic IT consulting, systems integration, and software solutions. The company also provides application development, modernization and maintenance, holistic enterprise digitization, automation, hybrid and cloud management, and business process services; intellectual property-based solutions; business consulting; managed IT services; and IT infrastructure services.