Prudential Financial Inc. Increases Stock Position in CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB - Free Report) TSE: GIB.A by 158.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,400 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,655 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in CGI were worth $1,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in CGI by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,942,779 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $869,067,000 after acquiring an additional 128,285 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of CGI by 23.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,513,733 shares of the technology company's stock worth $519,072,000 after acquiring an additional 861,771 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CGI by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,978,249 shares of the technology company's stock worth $216,369,000 after acquiring an additional 40,492 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CGI by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 998,470 shares of the technology company's stock worth $115,844,000 after purchasing an additional 79,362 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in CGI during the fourth quarter valued at about $94,390,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.68% of the company's stock.

CGI Stock Up 5.5 %

NYSE GIB traded up $5.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $101.80. 447,508 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 193,190. CGI Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.85 and a 52-week high of $122.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $110.50. The firm has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.85.

CGI (NYSE:GIB - Get Free Report) TSE: GIB.A last released 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CGI Inc. will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.1039 dividend. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CGI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $192.00 price target on shares of CGI in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on CGI from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CGI currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $156.75.

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.