Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $72.00 price target on the information technology service provider’s stock.

CTSH has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.44.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of CTSH stock opened at $67.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $33.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $67.11 and its 200 day moving average is $72.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a 52-week low of $62.14 and a 52-week high of $80.09.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The information technology service provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 17.48%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognizant Technology Solutions will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 13.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,045,823 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,254,178,000 after buying an additional 6,933,908 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 32.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,781,273 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $569,175,000 after buying an additional 101,078 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,433,474 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $410,406,000 after purchasing an additional 238,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $406,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Company Profile

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.