Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Short Interest Up 117.4% in May

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 833,600 shares, a growth of 117.4% from the April 30th total of 383,400 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 160,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SPNS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Sapiens International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $36.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Sapiens International in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Sapiens International from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sapiens International has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sapiens International

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Sapiens International by 25.9% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,174,043 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,805,000 after purchasing an additional 241,340 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Sapiens International by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,077,821 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,961,000 after purchasing an additional 32,126 shares in the last quarter. Nine Ten Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sapiens International by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Nine Ten Capital Management LLC now owns 1,074,291 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,866,000 after acquiring an additional 155,880 shares in the last quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sapiens International by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 945,377 shares of the technology company's stock worth $25,610,000 after acquiring an additional 46,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Sapiens International by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 713,109 shares of the technology company's stock worth $19,318,000 after acquiring an additional 53,585 shares during the last quarter. 30.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sapiens International Price Performance

NASDAQ SPNS traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.72. 92,442 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 155,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $27.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.21. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 0.95. Sapiens International has a 1-year low of $23.69 and a 1-year high of $41.22.

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

Sapiens International Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 46.15%.

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.