CGI Group (NYSE:GIB) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Scotiabank

Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of CGI Group (NYSE:GIB) (TSE:GIB.A) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

GIB has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $81.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of CGI Group in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Cibc Captl Mkts downgraded shares of CGI Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of CGI Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CGI Group in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of CGI Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.00.

CGI Group Trading Down 0.9%

CGI Group stock opened at $88.43 on Tuesday. CGI Group has a 12-month low of $84.00 and a 12-month high of $122.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.16.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4 billion. CGI Group had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 10.41%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CGI Group will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CGI Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is an increase from CGI Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. CGI Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CGI Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIB. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of CGI Group in the third quarter valued at $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CGI Group by 53.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in CGI Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $144,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in CGI Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $174,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CGI Group by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. 66.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CGI Group

CGI Group Inc is a global information technology and business consulting firm that delivers a broad range of services including IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance, infrastructure and network services, managed IT and business process outsourcing. The company works with clients to design, build and operate IT systems and business solutions, with capabilities spanning cloud and hybrid IT environments, cybersecurity, data analytics and artificial intelligence, digital transformation and enterprise resource planning implementations.

Founded in 1976 in Quebec by Serge Godin and André Imbeau, CGI has grown from a regional systems integrator into a multinational professional services organization.