Planned Solutions Inc. Makes New Investment in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 930 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at about $374,413,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 84.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,148,963 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $801,166,000 after buying an additional 6,027,057 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,098,017 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,923,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,022 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 69.3% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,368,034 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $295,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,551,475 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $203,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Societe Generale restated a “sell” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.38.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CTSH opened at $73.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $36.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.42. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52 week low of $58.09 and a 52 week high of $80.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted 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 company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.76 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 10.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In related news, EVP Kathryn Diaz sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.06, for a total value of $69,354.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 at this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.