CGI (NYSE:GIB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com lowered shares of CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised CGI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on CGI from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. CIBC raised CGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Cibc World Mkts raised CGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on CGI in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.00.

CGI Stock Performance

CGI stock traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $111.15. 58,745 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 147,800. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.96. CGI has a fifty-two week low of $96.92 and a fifty-two week high of $118.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.16.

CGI (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. CGI had a return on equity of 20.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CGI will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

CGI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.111 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. CGI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.04%.

Institutional Trading of CGI

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIB. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of CGI by 3,776.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 699,798 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,381,000 after acquiring an additional 681,747 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in CGI by 9,135.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 126,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,011,000 after buying an additional 125,611 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in CGI by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,384,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $505,173,000 after buying an additional 114,864 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden purchased a new position in CGI during the second quarter worth approximately $11,418,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in CGI by 22.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 625,106 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,394,000 after buying an additional 113,903 shares in the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CGI

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.