ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Holdings in NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 653,884 shares of the computer hardware maker's stock after selling 41,816 shares during the quarter. NVIDIA comprises 3.2% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $79,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. raised its position in NVIDIA by 1,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the computer hardware maker's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NVIDIA during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in NVIDIA in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. 65.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NVIDIA Stock Performance

NVDA stock traded down $1.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $144.72. The company had a trading volume of 40,488,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,077,906. The company has a quick ratio of 3.79, a current ratio of 4.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 68.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $133.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.72. NVIDIA Co. has a 1-year low of $45.01 and a 1-year high of $152.89.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $35.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.15 billion. NVIDIA had a net margin of 55.04% and a return on equity of 113.50%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 93.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, analysts expect that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NVIDIA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer hardware maker to buy up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

NVIDIA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA's payout ratio is currently 1.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NVIDIA news, insider Donald F. Robertson, Jr. sold 4,500 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.51, for a total transaction of $524,295.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 492,409 shares in the company, valued at $57,370,572.59. The trade was a 0.91 % 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, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 155,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.27, for a total transaction of $20,501,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,100,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,071,402,475.59. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,156,270 shares of company stock valued at $254,784,327 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.23% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. HSBC lifted their target price on NVIDIA from $145.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.82.

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corporation provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications.