FORA Capital LLC Makes New $729,000 Investment in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 9,479 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,028,485 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $4,539,290,000 after purchasing an additional 515,881 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,437,687 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,032,239,000 after acquiring an additional 157,464 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,147,006 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $857,205,000 after acquiring an additional 123,745 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,655,180 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $819,383,000 after acquiring an additional 287,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $527,719,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTSH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $103.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $92.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $93.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.87.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

NASDAQ CTSH opened at $79.16 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1 year low of $63.79 and a 1 year high of $90.82. The company has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.93.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 11.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology service provider to repurchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.11%.

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.