VeraBank N.A. Has $470,000 Stock Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

VeraBank N.A. lowered its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,117 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $161,000. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 8.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 44,423 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $3,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,518 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,972 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,502 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 11,169 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.67.

Insider Transactions at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total value of $400,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 39,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,126,052.42. This represents a 11.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Up 1.3 %

CTSH opened at $90.70 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.11. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $63.79 and a 1-year high of $90.82. The stock has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.78%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.61%.

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.