Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSH) Shares to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.33

Key Points

• Cognizant declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, payable November 25 to shareholders of record November 13. The annualized dividend is $1.32, yielding approximately 2.1%, and marks six consecutive years of annual increases.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $1.49, exceeding estimates of $1.46, while revenue rose 4.6% year over year to $5.66 billion.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: the consensus rating is “Hold” among 24 analysts, with an average price target of $68.04, although several firms recently raised their targets to between $77 and $80.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share by the information technology service provider on Wednesday, November 25th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th.

Cognizant Technology Solutions has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 6 consecutive years. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a payout ratio of 24.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cognizant Technology Solutions to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.9%.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions stock traded down $3.84 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $62.52. 7,982,588 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,964,613. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.09 and a 200-day moving average of $59.50. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a 1 year low of $37.08 and a 1 year high of $87.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.86.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The information technology service provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.03. Cognizant Technology Solutions had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. Cognizant Technology Solutions's quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cognizant Technology Solutions will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC set a $78.00 price target on Cognizant Technology Solutions in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cognizant Technology Solutions from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognizant Technology Solutions has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.04.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is a global information technology services and consulting company that helps organizations modernize their technology infrastructure, operations and customer experiences. The company serves businesses across industries including financial services, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, retail and communications.

Cognizant's services include consulting, application development and modernization, cloud computing, data and artificial intelligence, digital engineering, cybersecurity and business process services.

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