Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $1.22 Million Stock Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,259 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 740 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $1,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 75.6% during the 3rd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 504 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,430,266 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $426,794,000 after purchasing an additional 865,943 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. now owns 56,467 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 194,419 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $11,167,000 after purchasing an additional 33,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,622,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CTSH. TheStreet upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Moffett Nathanson lowered shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognizant Technology Solutions currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.90.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

CTSH stock opened at $58.44 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.01. The company has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.10. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52-week low of $51.33 and a 52-week high of $93.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The information technology service provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.01. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 18.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.24%.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

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Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. engages in the provision of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services. It operates through the following business segments: Financial Services, Healthcare, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media, and Technology. The Financial Services segment consists of banking and insurance services.