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Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ:CTSH) rose 2% amid speculation an activist investor has taken a stake in the IT consultant after a 13F filing from Nomura.
Nomura purchased 13.3 million shares of Cognizant in Q1, according to the Japanese bank’s 13F filing. That gives Nomura a 2.75% stake and makes it 7th among CTSH’s list of holders, Gordon Haskett’s Don Bilson highlighted in a note on Thursday.
Nomura, viewed as a counterparty for activist swap positions, is noteworthy as the prime broker is well known for putting activists into stocks.
Prominent activist Elliott Management has a history with Cognizant including owning a stake starting in 2016 and writing a letter to management at the time, Bilson and Dealreporter highlighted in separate items on Thursday.
Cognizant (CTSH) looks like it could ripe for activism, especially relative to the performance of its peer Accenture (ACN) in recent years, Bilson noted.