SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) Short Interest Up 29.1% in October

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSNC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,310,000 shares, a growth of 29.1% from the October 15th total of 1,790,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,250,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Insider Activity at SS&C Technologies

In other news, Director Michael Jay Zamkow sold 19,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total transaction of $1,443,430.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,715,098.72. This represents a 45.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Normand A. Boulanger sold 130,000 shares of SS&C Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $9,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 333,576 shares in the company, valued at $25,144,958.88. The trade was a 28.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 561,190 shares of company stock worth $41,386,285 in the last 90 days. 15.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of SS&C Technologies

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in SS&C Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SS&C Technologies in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in SS&C Technologies by 43.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in SS&C Technologies by 6,300.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 704 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the period. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SS&C Technologies during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 96.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SS&C Technologies Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SSNC traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.40. 1,564,268 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,081,484. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31 and a beta of 1.39. SS&C Technologies has a 12-month low of $54.44 and a 12-month high of $77.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

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

SS&C Technologies declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 25th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

SS&C Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from SS&C Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. SS&C Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

SS&C Technologies Company Profile

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.