SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on SS&C Technologies from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of SS&C Technologies from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of SS&C Technologies in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.75.

SS&C Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SSNC opened at $73.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.01. The stock has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31 and a beta of 1.39. SS&C Technologies has a twelve month low of $54.44 and a twelve month high of $77.02.

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The technology company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.03. SS&C Technologies had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that SS&C Technologies will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

SS&C Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from SS&C Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. SS&C Technologies’s payout ratio is 35.84%.

SS&C Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 25th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at SS&C Technologies

In other news, COO Rahul Kanwar sold 412,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.13, for a total value of $30,143,454.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 57,642 shares in the company, valued at $4,215,359.46. This represents a 87.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael Jay Zamkow sold 19,000 shares of SS&C Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total value of $1,443,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,715,098.72. This trade represents a 45.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 561,190 shares of company stock worth $41,386,285 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SS&C Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of SS&C Technologies by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 46,282 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,435,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 2.9% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 2.9% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,112 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SS&C Technologies by 43.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 51,497 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,822,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.95% of the company’s stock.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and software-enabled services to financial services and healthcare industries. The company owns and operates technology stack across securities accounting; front-office functions, such as trading and modeling; middle-office functions comprising portfolio management and reporting; back-office functions, such as accounting, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing, and compliance and tax reporting; and healthcare solutions consisting of claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence solutions.