B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,749 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CTSH. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,985,816 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,928,405,000 after acquiring an additional 867,176 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 18,609,898 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,265,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,127 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,280,223 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,022,728,000 after buying an additional 173,667 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,565,974 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $378,483,000 after buying an additional 94,209 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,340,480 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $363,153,000 after buying an additional 142,225 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total transaction of $400,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 39,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,126,052.42. This trade represents a 11.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTSH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.35.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CTSH stock opened at $79.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1 year low of $63.79 and a 1 year high of $82.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 11.60%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions 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.