Greenleaf Trust Acquires 896 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,757 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,196,547,000 after buying an additional 4,365,493 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $544,942,000 after buying an additional 231,782 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,177,547 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $418,467,000 after buying an additional 294,415 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,042,016 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $206,066,000 after buying an additional 28,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,680,009 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $113,804,000 after buying an additional 58,422 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CTSH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.44.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Down 0.6 %

Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $67.77 on Wednesday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $80.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.58.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology service provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 10.98% and a return on equity of 17.83%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total transaction of $69,354.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $640,522.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.