abrdn plc Sells 38,482 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

abrdn plc lowered its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 184,600 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 38,482 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $14,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CTSH. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,795 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 454 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 8,704 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 127.7% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 337 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CTSH shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognizant Technology Solutions currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $400,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 39,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,126,052.42. This 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. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

NASDAQ CTSH opened at $86.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1 year low of $63.79 and a 1 year high of $87.61. The company has a market cap of $42.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $79.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.52.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 17.08%. On average, analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

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.