Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) Lifted to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $75.00 price objective on the information technology service provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $73.00.

CTSH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Mizuho reissued a neutral rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $76.06.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 0.9 %

CTSH opened at $74.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a one year low of $62.14 and a one year high of $80.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 17.31%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions will post 4.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 28.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, CEO Ravi Kumar Singisetti sold 6,728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.66, for a total transaction of $495,584.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 46,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,419,812.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognizant Technology Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CTSH. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 29,226 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $2,142,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 590 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors boosted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.4% in the first quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 48,552 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,558,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,376 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SP Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 46,878 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,541,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

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.