Short Interest in Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) Declines By 35.4%

Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 163,300 shares, a drop of 35.4% from the January 15th total of 252,800 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 209,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPNS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on Sapiens International from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Sapiens International from $44.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sapiens International in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Sapiens International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Sapiens International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $36.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Sapiens International Price Performance

Shares of Sapiens International stock opened at $26.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.95. Sapiens International has a one year low of $25.01 and a one year high of $41.22.

Sapiens International (NASDAQ:SPNS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The technology company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $137.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.10 million. Sapiens International had a return on equity of 17.61% and a net margin of 13.23%. Sapiens International’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Sapiens International will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sapiens International

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 135.1% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 38,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 22,262 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sapiens International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 65.8% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 15,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 6,206 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,586 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sapiens International by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 61,509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. 30.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.