SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,170,000 shares, a growth of 26.3% from the December 15th total of 2,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at SS&C Technologies

In other news, CEO William C. Stone sold 247,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $18,945,653.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,837,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,439,103,510.86. This trade represents a 0.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Douglas White sold 69,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $5,317,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $494,172.84. The trade was a 91.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 449,000 shares of company stock valued at $34,461,478 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSNC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,245 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in SS&C Technologies by 1.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 59,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of SS&C Technologies by 0.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 156,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,839,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of SS&C Technologies by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,696,702 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,995,000 after acquiring an additional 349,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in SS&C Technologies by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 18,470 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. 96.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SSNC shares. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of SS&C Technologies from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on SS&C Technologies from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered SS&C Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of SS&C Technologies in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SS&C Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.75.

SS&C Technologies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of SSNC stock traded up $0.25 on Friday, reaching $79.35. The company had a trading volume of 84,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,087,435. The stock has a market cap of $19.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.90 and a 200-day moving average of $73.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. SS&C Technologies has a 12 month low of $59.20 and a 12 month high of $79.54.

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The technology company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. SS&C Technologies had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 17.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that SS&C Technologies will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

SS&C Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. SS&C Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.84%.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and software-enabled services to financial services and healthcare industries. The company owns and operates technology stack across securities accounting; front-office functions, such as trading and modeling; middle-office functions comprising portfolio management and reporting; back-office functions, such as accounting, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing, and compliance and tax reporting; and healthcare solutions consisting of claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence solutions.