Deutsche Bank AG Raises Stock Holdings in Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS)

Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,865 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 9,078 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.12% of Sapiens International worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,077,821 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,961,000 after acquiring an additional 32,126 shares during the period. Nine Ten Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $28,866,000 after purchasing an additional 155,880 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in Sapiens International by 65.7% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 932,703 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,062,000 after purchasing an additional 369,947 shares during the period. Topline Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Sapiens International during the fourth quarter worth $24,147,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sapiens International by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 659,524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,721,000 after purchasing an additional 64,972 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SPNS shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Sapiens International in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays raised their target price on Sapiens International from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Sapiens International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.25.

Sapiens International Stock Down 0.7%

Sapiens International stock opened at $27.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Sapiens International Co. has a twelve month low of $23.69 and a twelve month high of $41.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.45.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sapiens International Co. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sapiens International Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Sapiens International’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 7th. Sapiens International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.15%.

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.