First National Bank Sioux Falls Takes $308,000 Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

First National Bank Sioux Falls bought a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,000 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the third quarter worth about $1,972,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,187,850 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $91,678,000 after buying an additional 40,226 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 101,420 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $7,828,000 after buying an additional 11,349 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 60,291 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $4,629,000 after buying an additional 7,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 119,570 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $9,228,000 after buying an additional 6,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CTSH shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised Cognizant Technology Solutions from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.19.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of CTSH stock traded up $1.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $76.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,425,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,354,008. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.02 and its 200-day moving average is $76.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $37.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.07. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $63.79 and a 1-year high of $82.46.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 11.60%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Insider Transactions at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total transaction of $400,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 39,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,126,052.42. This represents a 11.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.