California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 56,711 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,317,252 shares of the information technology service provider's stock after selling 56,711 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.47% of Cognizant Technology Solutions worth $178,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,028,485 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $4,539,290,000 after acquiring an additional 515,881 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 worth $1,928,405,000 after purchasing an additional 867,176 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,280,223 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $1,022,728,000 after purchasing an additional 173,667 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $527,719,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,406,513 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $261,996,000 after buying an additional 336,870 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.44% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CTSH. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $93.00 to $88.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognizant Technology Solutions currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $84.56.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CTSH traded down $2.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $74.13. 1,871,866 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,545,241. The company has a market capitalization of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 1-year low of $63.79 and a 1-year high of $90.82. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $82.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.49.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.78%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology service provider to reacquire up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Cognizant Technology Solutions's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Cognizant Technology Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

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, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology.