Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.25.

A number of brokerages have commented on SPNS. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Sapiens International in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sapiens International from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Sapiens International Price Performance

SPNS opened at $29.72 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $27.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.26. Sapiens International has a 52-week low of $23.69 and a 52-week high of $41.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $136.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $136.25 million. Sapiens International had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 13.31%. Sapiens International's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Sapiens International will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Sapiens International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Sapiens International's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. Sapiens International's dividend payout ratio is presently 46.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sapiens International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Sapiens International by 415.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 54,640 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,036,000 after acquiring an additional 44,033 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sapiens International by 171.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,356 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sapiens International by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,400 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Sapiens International during the fourth quarter valued at about $262,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Sapiens International by 100.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 153,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,134,000 after purchasing an additional 77,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 30.73% of the company's stock.

About Sapiens International

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.