Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 472 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 262,020 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock after selling 472 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $20,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CTSH. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 146.9% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,644,723 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $126,940,000 after buying an additional 978,579 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 2,478,364 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $191,280,000 after purchasing an additional 943,372 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,985,816 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $1,928,405,000 after purchasing an additional 867,176 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,744,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,784,668 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $214,141,000 after purchasing an additional 705,946 shares during the last quarter. 92.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CTSH shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognizant Technology Solutions presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.67.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of CTSH stock opened at $84.55 on Tuesday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $63.79 and a 1-year high of $90.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The company has a market cap of $41.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.07.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, research analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 27.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.