Bank of Nova Scotia Reduces Holdings in CGI Group, Inc. (NYSE:GIB)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia sold 19,500 shares of CGI Group, Inc., reducing its position by 2.5% and owning approximately 0.34% of the company valued at $76.07 million.
• CGI Group increased its quarterly dividend to $0.1086 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $0.43 and a yield of 0.5%.
• CGI Group reported earnings of $1.52 per share, beating expectations, but revenue was lower than anticipated at $3 billion against a forecast of $4.01 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its holdings in CGI Group, Inc. (NYSE:GIB - Free Report) TSE: GIB.A by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 761,916 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 19,500 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.34% of CGI Group worth $76,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of CGI Group by 9,881.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,695 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 2,668 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of CGI Group by 239.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 258 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in CGI Group by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the technology company's stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in CGI Group in the first quarter worth $494,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of CGI Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,151 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,505,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GIB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of CGI Group from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of CGI Group from $112.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CGI Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $148.25.

CGI Group Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE GIB traded down $0.90 on Wednesday, reaching $96.63. The company had a trading volume of 271,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,875. The business has a 50 day moving average of $103.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.23. CGI Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.85 and a fifty-two week high of $122.79. The firm has a market cap of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

CGI Group (NYSE:GIB - Get Free Report) TSE: GIB.A last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. CGI Group had a net margin of 11.01% and a return on equity of 18.53%. CGI Group's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. Analysts forecast that CGI Group, Inc. will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

CGI Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.1086 per share. This is an increase from CGI Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. CGI Group's dividend payout ratio is 7.95%.

About CGI Group

CGI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) and business process services. Its services include the business and strategic IT consulting, systems integration, and software solutions. The company also provides application development, modernization and maintenance, holistic enterprise digitization, automation, hybrid and cloud management, and business process services; intellectual property-based solutions; business consulting; managed IT services; and IT infrastructure services.