CGI Group (NYSE:GIB) Cut to Hold at Cibc Captl Mkts

Cibc Captl Mkts lowered shares of CGI Group (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of CGI Group from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of CGI Group in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $81.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of CGI Group in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded CGI Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CGI Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.00.

CGI Group Price Performance

GIB opened at $90.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $88.23 and a 200 day moving average of $95.10. CGI Group has a 52-week low of $84.00 and a 52-week high of $122.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 0.61.

CGI Group (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The technology company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.02. CGI Group had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 10.41%.The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CGI Group will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

CGI Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from CGI Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. CGI Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CGI Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of CGI Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in CGI Group in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in CGI Group by 53.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in CGI Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $144,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in CGI Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $204,000. Institutional investors own 66.68% of the company’s stock.

About CGI Group

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.