Candriam S.C.A. Reduces Position in Wipro Limited $WIT

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. has reduced its holdings in Wipro Limited by 48.3%, selling 200,000 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 214,000 shares worth $655,000.
• Several hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Wipro, with Northern Trust Corp significantly increasing its stake by 115.3% to own over 5.7 million shares.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Wipro from an "underweight" to an "equal weight" rating, while the stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Reduce" from analysts.

Candriam S.C.A. cut its position in shares of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT - Free Report) by 48.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 214,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 200,000 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Wipro were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WIT. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Wipro by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,798,020 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $55,925,000 after purchasing an additional 4,215,981 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 115.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,766,763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $17,646,000 after acquiring an additional 3,087,697 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 45.4% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,227,213 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,115,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,828 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 41.0% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 4,517,030 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $13,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,832 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wipro by 210.8% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,824,878 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,734 shares during the period. 2.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wipro Price Performance

Shares of WIT stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $2.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,052,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,164,772. The company has a market capitalization of $29.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.97, a P/E/G ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $2.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.99. Wipro Limited has a 1-year low of $2.62 and a 1-year high of $3.79.

Wipro (NYSE:WIT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The information technology services provider reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.04. Wipro had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The company had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $219.23 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wipro Limited will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wipro Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 28th were given a $0.057 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 409.9%. Wipro's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Wipro from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wipro presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

Wipro Profile

Wipro Limited operates as an information technology (IT), consulting, and business process services company worldwide. It operates through IT Services and IT Products segments. The IT Services segment offers IT and IT-enabled services, including digital strategy advisory, customer-centric design, technology and IT consulting, custom application design, development, re-engineering and maintenance, systems integration, package implementation, cloud and infrastructure, business process, cloud, mobility and analytics, research and development, and hardware and software design services to enterprises.