Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Short Interest Update

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 171,200 shares, a decline of 20.5% from the March 15th total of 215,300 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 121,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 6.1% during the first quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,849 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sapiens International during the first quarter worth about $3,807,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,385,709 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,102,000 after purchasing an additional 89,877 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 27,202 shares of the technology company's stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 315.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,072 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 36,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SPNS shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Sapiens International from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Sapiens International from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sapiens International currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.33.

Sapiens International Trading Down 3.1 %

Sapiens International stock traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $30.71. The stock had a trading volume of 167,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 167,822. Sapiens International has a twelve month low of $19.91 and a twelve month high of $35.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $30.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.11.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. Sapiens International had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $130.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $130.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Sapiens International will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

Sapiens International Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This is a boost from Sapiens International's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.26. Sapiens International's payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Sapiens International Company Profile

Sapiens International Corporation N.V. provides software solutions for the insurance industry in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides various solutions for property and casualty commercial and personal lines, life and pensions, and reinsurance fields.