Short Interest in CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) Expands By 12.8%

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 31st total of 1,490,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 148,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of CGI in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. CIBC raised CGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and increased their target price for the company from $155.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com upgraded CGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded CGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CGI

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CGI during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,907,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of CGI by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,365 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in CGI by 16.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,179 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,895,000 after buying an additional 3,490 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of CGI by 10.5% during the third quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 227,796 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,194,000 after purchasing an additional 21,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of CGI during the third quarter worth approximately $467,000. Institutional investors own 66.68% of the company’s stock.

CGI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIB traded up $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $118.13. 307,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 198,619. CGI has a 12-month low of $96.92 and a 12-month high of $121.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.47. The company has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.94.

CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41. CGI had a return on equity of 19.32% and a net margin of 11.72%. On average, analysts forecast that CGI will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

CGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.1039 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. CGI’s payout ratio is 8.32%.

About CGI

CGI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) and business process services. Its services include the business and strategic IT consulting, systems integration, and software solutions. The company also provides application development, modernization and maintenance, holistic enterprise digitization, automation, hybrid and cloud management, and business process services; intellectual property-based solutions; business consulting; managed IT services; and IT infrastructure services.