Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 9,131 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 12.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 82,111 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,131 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $6,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CTSH. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 19,850.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 3,016,114 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $205,096,000 after buying an additional 3,000,996 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.7% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 18,609,898 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,265,473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,127 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 152.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,120,012 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $146,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,236 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 276.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,588,528 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $122,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,033 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 2,478,364 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $191,280,000 after purchasing an additional 943,372 shares in the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Daiwa America upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.47.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CTSH opened at $80.75 on Thursday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1 year low of $63.79 and a 1 year high of $82.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.56.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 17.08%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.