Infosys Limited (NYSE:INFY) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Infosys Limited (NYSE:INFY) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 67,430,000 shares, a drop of 12.7% from the September 30th total of 77,260,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 8,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on INFY shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Infosys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Infosys from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Infosys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Macquarie upgraded Infosys from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Investec cut Infosys from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Infosys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.85.

Institutional Trading of Infosys

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INFY. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Infosys by 68.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 24,339,983 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $542,051,000 after buying an additional 9,923,744 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Infosys by 37.3% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 21,580,344 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,826,000 after purchasing an additional 5,862,144 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in Infosys by 4.4% during the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 16,591,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $297,484,000 after purchasing an additional 699,641 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Infosys by 67.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,601,073 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $141,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Infosys by 10.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,248,026 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,338,000 after purchasing an additional 570,435 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 10.89% of the company’s stock.

Infosys Stock Performance

INFY traded down $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $20.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,615,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,265,200. The company has a market capitalization of $86.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.21. Infosys has a 52-week low of $16.04 and a 52-week high of $23.48.

Infosys (NYSE:INFY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. Infosys had a return on equity of 31.43% and a net margin of 17.15%. The firm had revenue of $4.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Infosys will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Infosys Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 1st were issued a $0.2126 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. This is an increase from Infosys’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.20. Infosys’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.26%.

About Infosys

Infosys Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides consulting, technology, outsourcing, and next-generation digital services in North America, Europe, India, and internationally. It provides digital marketing and digital workplace, digital commerce, digital experience and interactions, metaverse, data analytics and AI, applied AI, generative AI, sustainability, blockchain, engineering, Internet of Things, enterprise agile DevOps, application modernization, cloud, digital process automation, digital supply chain, Microsoft business application and cloud business, service experience transformation, energy transition, cyber security, and quality engineering solutions; Oracle, SAP, and Saleforce solutions; API economy and microservices; and Topaz, an AI-first set of services, solutions, and platforms using generative AI technologies.