Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Acquires 29,752 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 923,741 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,752 shares during the quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can owned approximately 0.18% of Cognizant Technology Solutions worth $56,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Credit Suisse AG boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 68.8% in the 4th quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 1,320,201 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $75,502,000 after purchasing an additional 537,980 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 416,924 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $25,403,000 after acquiring an additional 23,883 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 10,567 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 614,359 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $41,008,000 after acquiring an additional 6,483 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 65,660 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,001,000 after acquiring an additional 8,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

Shares of CTSH opened at $71.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a twelve month low of $51.33 and a twelve month high of $72.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.69 and a 200-day moving average of $64.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The information technology service provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.31% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The business had revenue of $4.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 21st were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 18th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.04%.

Insider Activity at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In related news, Director Michael Patsalos-Fox sold 6,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total value of $434,883.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 64,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,062,199.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CTSH shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $72.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Friday, August 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.94.

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.