Essex Financial Services Inc. Raises Holdings in NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA) by 1,052.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 205,385 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after buying an additional 187,566 shares during the period. NVIDIA comprises 1.2% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $25,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NVDA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NVIDIA by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,335,626 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $192,761,538,000 after purchasing an additional 8,828,050 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 854.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 182,622,629 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $22,561,200,000 after buying an additional 163,482,580 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 696.6% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 82,058,614 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $10,137,521,000 after acquiring an additional 71,757,065 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 829.0% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 64,055,653 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $7,913,435,000 after acquiring an additional 57,160,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in NVIDIA by 741.8% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 40,008,518 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $4,942,652,000 after acquiring an additional 35,255,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NVIDIA news, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.81, for a total value of $11,977,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 77,094,995 shares in the company, valued at $7,694,851,450.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other NVIDIA news, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.81, for a total value of $11,977,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,094,995 shares in the company, valued at $7,694,851,450.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Donald F. Robertson, Jr. sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.51, for a total value of $524,295.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 492,409 shares in the company, valued at $57,370,572.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,277,403 shares of company stock valued at $512,029,184. 4.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on NVIDIA from $1,200.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Melius Research increased their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of NVIDIA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.10.

NVIDIA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NVDA opened at $121.40 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.88 and a 200-day moving average of $108.35. NVIDIA Co. has a 12 month low of $39.23 and a 12 month high of $140.76. The company has a current ratio of 4.27, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 70.99, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.67.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $30.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.74 billion. NVIDIA had a net margin of 55.04% and a return on equity of 113.50%. The company’s revenue was up 122.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the computer hardware maker to repurchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

NVIDIA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th will be given a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 12th. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.34%.

NVIDIA Company Profile

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.