Analysts Set Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) Price Target at $75.65

Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $76.94.

Several research firms have commented on CTSH. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Societe Generale reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Wolfe Research raised Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho began coverage on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

Insider Activity at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In related news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total value of $69,354.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $640,522.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognizant Technology Solutions

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,111,915 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $3,860,483,000 after buying an additional 7,445,089 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,415,954 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,365,793,000 after buying an additional 473,809 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 17,663,814 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,196,547,000 after buying an additional 4,365,493 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,710,353 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $590,394,000 after buying an additional 93,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,056,248 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $544,942,000 after buying an additional 231,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CTSH opened at $67.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $80.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $74.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.51.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology service provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 10.98%. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.57%.

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.