Toronto Dominion Bank Sells 587,282 Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Toronto Dominion Bank decreased its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH - Free Report) by 75.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 190,722 shares of the information technology service provider's stock after selling 587,282 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions were worth $14,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.7% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,111 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 15.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 18,251 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 123.2% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 421,495 shares of the information technology service provider's stock worth $28,662,000 after buying an additional 232,684 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 232.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,583 shares of the information technology service provider's stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $271,000. Institutional investors own 92.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CTSH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.47.

Insider Activity at Cognizant Technology Solutions

In other news, CAO John Sunshin Kim sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.11, for a total transaction of $400,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

CTSH stock traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,698,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,752,314. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a 52 week low of $63.79 and a 52 week high of $82.41.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The information technology service provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.10. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 17.08%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Cognizant Technology Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Company 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.