Royal Bank of Canada Increases Position in CGI Group, Inc. $GIB

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in CGI Group, acquiring an additional 747,918 shares, which brings its total to approximately 8.15 million shares, valued at around $813.79 million.
• CGI Group plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.1086 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for August 15th, representing a yield of 0.4%.
• Analysts have mixed views on CGI Group, with an average rating of "Buy" and a price target of $148.25, although Royal Bank of Canada lowered its target from $185 to $175.

Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of CGI Group, Inc. (NYSE:GIB - Free Report) TSE: GIB.A by 10.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,151,753 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 747,918 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 3.60% of CGI Group worth $813,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GIB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CGI Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,037,045 shares of the technology company's stock worth $802,338,000 after buying an additional 94,266 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of CGI Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,755,285 shares of the technology company's stock worth $474,702,000 after buying an additional 41,631 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of CGI Group by 2.1% in the first quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,380,743 shares of the technology company's stock worth $437,770,000 after buying an additional 89,458 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in CGI Group by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,028,147 shares of the technology company's stock worth $202,470,000 after purchasing an additional 133,750 shares during the period. Finally, Groupe la Francaise boosted its position in shares of CGI Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 1,587,712 shares of the technology company's stock worth $157,596,000 after purchasing an additional 48,000 shares in the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on GIB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on CGI Group from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on CGI Group from $112.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" 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 assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CGI Group currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $148.25.

CGI Group Trading Down 0.2%

GIB traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $96.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 232,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,553. CGI Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.85 and a fifty-two week high of $122.79. The stock has a market cap of $21.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.75. The business's 50-day moving average is $99.09 and its 200-day moving average is $103.29. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.01. CGI Group had a return on equity of 18.53% and a net margin of 11.01%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.1086 dividend. This is a boost from CGI Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. CGI Group's payout ratio is currently 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.