Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $7.17 Million Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,909 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 912 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $7,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 590 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 773 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $640,522.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $67.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $33.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.06. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 12-month low of $58.09 and a 12-month high of $80.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $73.94 and its 200-day moving average is $72.55.

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

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. 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 1.78%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio 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.