Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. to Post FY2022 Earnings of $4.39 Per Share, Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts (NASDAQ:CTSH)
Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Rating) - Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group cut their FY2022 EPS estimates for Cognizant Technology Solutions in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst S. Thind now anticipates that the information technology service provider will post earnings per share of $4.39 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $4.47. The consensus estimate for Cognizant Technology Solutions' current full-year earnings is $4.43 per share. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Cognizant Technology Solutions' Q4 2022 earnings at $1.00 EPS and Q2 2023 earnings at $1.14 EPS.
Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CTSH. William Blair cut Cognizant Technology Solutions from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $70.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Cognizant Technology Solutions from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 3rd. TheStreet lowered Cognizant Technology Solutions from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $55.00 to $45.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Sunday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.42.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance
Cognizant Technology Solutions stock opened at $64.06 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a 12-month low of $51.33 and a 12-month high of $93.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.05.
Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The information technology service provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.17. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 12.11% and a return on equity of 19.55%. The company had revenue of $4.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.01 billion.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CTSH. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,965,447 shares of the information technology service provider's stock valued at $3,157,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,858,080 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,512,814 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $2,499,377,000 after purchasing an additional 273,391 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.5% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 14,254,984 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $818,806,000 after acquiring an additional 486,853 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 19.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,693,839 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $557,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 13.2% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,430,266 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $426,794,000 after acquiring an additional 865,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.12% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Cognizant Technology Solutions
In other Cognizant Technology Solutions news, Director Leo S. Jr. Mackay sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.79, for a total value of $174,207.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,494,484.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 17th. Cognizant Technology Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.00%.
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; Healthcare; Products and Resources; and Communications, Media and Technology.
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