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

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

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

SS&C Technologies Stock Up 0.1 %

SS&C Technologies stock opened at $73.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35 and a beta of 1.39. SS&C Technologies has a 1-year low of $54.75 and a 1-year high of $77.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The technology company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. SS&C Technologies had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 12.26%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SS&C Technologies will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

SS&C Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. SS&C Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 35.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael Jay Zamkow sold 19,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total transaction of $1,443,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,098.72. This trade represents a 45.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Normand A. Boulanger sold 130,000 shares of SS&C Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $9,799,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 333,576 shares in the company, valued at $25,144,958.88. The trade was a 28.04 % 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 valued at $41,386,285 over the last three months. 15.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SS&C Technologies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in SS&C Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of SS&C Technologies in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SS&C Technologies by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in SS&C Technologies by 6,300.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 704 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in SS&C Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.