Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) Upgraded at Citigroup

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) was upgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $79.00 price target on the information technology service provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $75.84. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 2.21% from the company’s previous close.

CTSH has been the topic of several other reports. Vetr upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.56 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. BidaskClub lowered Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Cognizant Technology Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.98.

Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) traded up $0.54 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.29. The company had a trading volume of 3,079,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,961,080. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $45,573.66, a PE ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.08. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a twelve month low of $51.52 and a twelve month high of $77.38.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The information technology service provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. research analysts predict that Cognizant Technology Solutions will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Vice Chairman Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan sold 25,000 shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.44, for a total value of $1,886,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 271,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,466,872. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Rajeev Mehta sold 42,500 shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $3,230,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 889,911 shares of company stock worth $64,936,834. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 5.3% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 208,113 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $13,820,000 after buying an additional 10,520 shares during the last quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 92.6% during the second quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC now owns 1,664 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 9.4% during the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 21,475 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the second quarter worth approximately $1,719,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 81.6% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,065,752 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock worth $1,664,366,000 after buying an additional 11,262,360 shares during the last quarter. 86.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Cognizant Technology Solutions Company Profile

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is a professional services company. The Company operates through four segments: Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing/Retail/Logistics, and Other. The Financial Services segment includes customers providing banking/transaction processing, capital markets and insurance services.

Analyst Recommendations for Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH)