Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) Receives "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $325.00 price objective on the software maker's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price suggests a potential upside of 25.84% from the stock's previous close.

CDNS has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Cadence Design Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Monday, November 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $360.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $326.92.

Cadence Design Systems Stock Down 4.4 %

CDNS stock traded down $11.96 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $258.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,346,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,821,239. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $70.83 billion, a PE ratio of 66.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.03. Cadence Design Systems has a 12 month low of $241.29 and a 12 month high of $328.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $301.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.95.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The software maker reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.33). Cadence Design Systems had a return on equity of 29.24% and a net margin of 22.74%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cadence Design Systems will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paul Scannell sold 3,171 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.78, for a total value of $969,628.38. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,318 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,378,158.04. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anirudh Devgan sold 5,920 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.04, for a total transaction of $1,799,916.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,987,930.96. The trade was a 9.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,416 shares of company stock worth $33,538,875. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cadence Design Systems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,237,569 shares of the software maker's stock worth $672,300,000 after acquiring an additional 216,075 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 5,289 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766 shares during the last quarter. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 64.3% during the 4th quarter. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. now owns 783,906 shares of the software maker's stock worth $235,625,000 after acquiring an additional 306,887 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 139,288 shares of the software maker's stock worth $41,850,000 after acquiring an additional 79,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 952,427 shares of the software maker's stock worth $258,136,000 after acquiring an additional 310,250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.85% of the company's stock.

Cadence Design Systems Company Profile

Cadence Design Systems, Inc provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks worldwide. The company offers functional verification services, including emulation and prototyping hardware. Its functional verification offering consists of JasperGold, a formal verification platform; Xcelium, a parallel logic simulation platform; Palladium, an enterprise emulation platform; and Protium, a prototyping platform for chip verification.