Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,320 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CTSH. CGN Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,294,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 429,660 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $33,041,000 after purchasing an additional 144,535 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 436,509 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $33,568,000 after purchasing an additional 85,539 shares in the last quarter. Matthews International Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Matthews International Capital Management LLC now owns 50,108 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,219,380 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $93,770,000 after purchasing an additional 31,530 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CTSH shares. Susquehanna raised Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $77.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $93.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.87.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $81.36 on Friday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 12 month low of $63.79 and a 12 month high of $90.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.77. The company has a market cap of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.93.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 11.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.11%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology service provider to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.