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

CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of 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 shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 148,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.3 days.

Institutional Trading of CGI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIB. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in CGI in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of CGI in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of CGI by 288.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in CGI by 14.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,365 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new stake in CGI during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. 66.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CGI Stock Performance

CGI stock traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $118.13. 307,498 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 198,619. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market cap of $26.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.94. CGI has a 12-month low of $96.92 and a 12-month high of $121.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.47.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41. CGI had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 19.32%. Equities research analysts predict that CGI will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

CGI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. CGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIB. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of CGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of CGI in a research note on Monday, January 6th. CIBC upgraded CGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded CGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $153.25.

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.