Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) Stake Increased by DNB Asset Management AS

DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 8.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 85,381 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,586 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $5,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position 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 buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $1,786,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTSH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.06.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ CTSH opened at $73.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $36.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.46. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a twelve month low of $62.14 and a twelve month high of $80.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.76.

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

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend 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.