Lafayette Investments Inc. Sells 230 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Lafayette Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,637 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $1,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 67,119 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $5,070,000 after acquiring an additional 20,874 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 36.0% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,227,411 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $83,145,000 after acquiring an additional 324,638 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 53.8% during the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 74,411 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $5,041,000 after acquiring an additional 26,035 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 110.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,344,587 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $91,082,000 after acquiring an additional 704,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 237.3% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 62,264 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 43,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total transaction of $69,354.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $640,522.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CTSH. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Societe Generale reissued a “sell” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.65.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of CTSH stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.14. 1,588,282 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,301,653. The stock has a market cap of $33.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.51. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52-week low of $58.09 and a 52-week high of $80.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.25.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology service provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 10.98% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 28.57%.

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.