Czech National Bank Buys 6,223 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 100,970 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,223 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $7,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,045,823 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $4,254,178,000 after purchasing an additional 6,933,908 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 18,609,898 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,265,473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,127 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,781,273 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $569,175,000 after acquiring an additional 101,078 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,565,974 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $378,483,000 after acquiring an additional 94,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,340,480 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $363,153,000 after acquiring an additional 142,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti sold 6,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.66, for a total value of $495,584.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,419,812.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

CTSH opened at $77.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 2.46. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52-week low of $62.14 and a 52-week high of $80.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.40.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.85%.

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.