CGI (NYSE:GIB) Shares Down 5.1% – What’s Next?

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) shares traded down 5.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $98.46 and last traded at $98.23. 86,333 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 175,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GIB. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CGI from $118.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of CGI in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $153.25.

CGI Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $111.54 and its 200 day moving average is $112.18.

CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.41. CGI had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 19.32%. As a group, analysts forecast that CGI Inc. will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

CGI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.1039 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. CGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.41%.

Institutional Trading of CGI

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIB. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in CGI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in CGI by 164.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 116,604 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,752,000 after purchasing an additional 72,452 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in CGI by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 5,315 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in CGI by 1,190.6% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 845,916 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $92,438,000 after purchasing an additional 780,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in CGI by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 7,239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177 shares during the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CGI Company Profile

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.