Constellation Software (TSE:CSU) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Constellation Software Inc. (TSE:CSU) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as C$3,479.60 and last traded at C$3,449.45, with a volume of 20,934 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$3,465.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSU. RBC Dominion Securities set a C$4,400.00 price target on shares of Constellation Software and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Constellation Software from C$3,500.00 to C$3,700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Constellation Software from C$3,200.00 to C$3,500.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Constellation Software from C$3,185.00 to C$3,294.00 in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$4,400.00 target price on Constellation Software and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$3,931.27.

Constellation Software Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 141.06, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of C$74.42 billion, a PE ratio of 77.47, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$3,058.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$2,784.12.

Constellation Software (TSE:CSU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported C$18.37 EPS for the quarter. Constellation Software had a net margin of 7.57% and a return on equity of 25.24%. The firm had revenue of C$4.74 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Constellation Software Inc. will post 55.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Constellation Software Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 18th. Constellation Software’s payout ratio is currently 8.82%.

Insider Activity at Constellation Software

In other news, Director Jamal Nizam Baksh sold 149 shares of Constellation Software stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2,871.23, for a total transaction of C$427,813.27. Following the transaction, the director owned 143 shares in the company, valued at C$410,585.89. This trade represents a 51.03% decrease in their position. Also, insider John Edward Billowits sold 1,200 shares of Constellation Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$3,203.00, for a total transaction of C$3,843,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,370 shares in the company, valued at C$39,621,110. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. Corporate insiders own 5.69% of the company’s stock.

About Constellation Software

Constellation Software is an international provider of market-leading software and services to a number of industries. Our mission is to acquire, manage and build market-leading software businesses that develop specialized, mission-critical software solutions to address the specific needs of our particular industries. Our company was founded in 1995 to assemble a portfolio of vertical market software companies that have the potential to be leaders in their particular market. Since then, we have grown rapidly through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, and established a strong constellation of companies with a large, diverse customer base.