Independent Advisor Alliance Takes $328,000 Position in Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH)

Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. (NASDAQ:CTSH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,264 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock, valued at approximately $328,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions by 3.5% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,187,850 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $91,678,000 after purchasing an additional 40,226 shares during the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,294,000. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 50.7% during the fourth quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 429,660 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $33,041,000 after buying an additional 144,535 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 436,509 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $33,568,000 after buying an additional 85,539 shares during the period. Finally, Matthews International Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cognizant Technology Solutions by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Matthews International Capital Management LLC now owns 50,108 shares of the information technology service provider’s stock valued at $3,853,000 after buying an additional 17,134 shares during the period. 92.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CTSH. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from $93.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognizant Technology Solutions has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.50.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Price Performance

CTSH stock opened at $79.58 on Wednesday. Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. has a one year low of $63.79 and a one year high of $90.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.09. The company has a market capitalization of $39.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.12.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information technology service provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.78%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cognizant Technology Solutions Co. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Cognizant Technology Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Cognizant Technology Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.