NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Cut to “Hold” at Craig Hallum

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) was downgraded by analysts at Craig Hallum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $180.00 price target on the computer hardware maker’s stock. Craig Hallum‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.86% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on NVDA. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $200.00 price objective on NVIDIA and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research cut NVIDIA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered NVIDIA from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Phillip Securities lifted their target price on NVIDIA from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $225.00 price target on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.97.

NVIDIA Price Performance

Shares of NVIDIA stock traded down $8.38 on Thursday, hitting $165.35. The company had a trading volume of 555,136,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,650,969. NVIDIA has a 52 week low of $148.80 and a 52 week high of $243.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.59 and a quick ratio of 3.85. The company has a market cap of $3.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.35.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.27 billion. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 96.04% and a net margin of 63.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 105.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NVIDIA will post 9.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, September 28th that authorizes the company to buy back $150 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer hardware maker to repurchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Colette Kress sold 34,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.05, for a total value of $7,648,787.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 765,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,595,812.15. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 622,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.62, for a total transaction of $144,122,997.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,336,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $541,187,310.22. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,766,118 shares of company stock worth $399,450,353. Company insiders own 3.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NVIDIA

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVDA. Boyd Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in NVIDIA by 273.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,145 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares during the last quarter. Ally Financial Inc. lifted its position in NVIDIA by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ally Financial Inc. now owns 172,000 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $34,415,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in NVIDIA by 6,451.9% during the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 637,236 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $111,134,000 after acquiring an additional 627,510 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in NVIDIA by 5.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 52,163 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $10,437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in NVIDIA by 7.4% during the second quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,898 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $14,386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,958 shares during the period. 65.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting NVIDIA

Investors following NVDA have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts see the sharp selloff as an opportunity, pointing to the company’s AI business and management’s forecast for about 70% revenue growth in the next fiscal year. Needham retained a Buy rating despite cutting its price target to $200. NVIDIA growth outlook and investment view
• Neutral Sentiment: The board appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first chair and is considering internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO. These moves establish a transition process, but the eventual leadership choice and its strategic implications remain uncertain. NVIDIA interim leadership
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution and a rotation into chip rivals add pressure: StoneX downgraded NVIDIA to Hold, while reports described investors favoring Broadcom and AMD after Huang’s exit. Chip rivals gain after Huang’s exit

NVIDIA Company Profile

NVIDIA Corporation develops graphics processing units (GPUs), accelerated computing platforms and related software. Founded in 1993, the company first became widely known for GPUs used in PC gaming and professional graphics. Its technology now also supports artificial intelligence, scientific computing and other data-intensive applications. NVIDIA’s offerings include GeForce products for gaming, data-center GPUs and systems for AI workloads, and networking products that connect computing infrastructure.