The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Position in CGI Group, Inc. $GIB

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in CGI Group, Inc. by 8.0%, now owning approximately 1.59% of the company valued at $361.3 million.
• Analysts have set an average price target of $148.25 for CGI Group, with a consensus rating of "Buy"; UBS and Royal Bank Of Canada recently adjusted their target prices to $105.00 and $175.00, respectively.
• CGI Group has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1086 per share, which is an increase from the previous dividend and reflects a yield of 0.5%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in CGI Group, Inc. (NYSE:GIB - Free Report) TSE: GIB.A by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,599,594 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 312,271 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.59% of CGI Group worth $361,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GIB. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CGI Group by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,135 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of CGI Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its stake in shares of CGI Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,905 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CGI Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,619 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC boosted its stake in CGI Group by 4.4% during the first quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 3,284 shares of the technology company's stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CGI Group Trading Up 0.7%

GIB stock traded up $0.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $97.13. The company had a trading volume of 241,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,778. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.50. CGI Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.85 and a 52-week high of $122.79.

CGI Group (NYSE:GIB - Get Free Report) TSE: GIB.A last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.01. CGI Group had a net margin of 11.01% and a return on equity of 18.53%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that CGI Group, Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CGI Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.1086 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from CGI Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. CGI Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of CGI Group from $112.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of CGI Group from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $148.25.

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.