NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Shares Up 2.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA) shot up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $170.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. NVIDIA traded as high as $149.65 and last traded at $148.78. 71,785,727 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 401,576,844 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.26.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on NVDA. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on NVIDIA from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on NVIDIA from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NVIDIA from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $12,639,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,895,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,994,108,405.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other NVIDIA news, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $12,639,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,895,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,994,108,405.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Donald F. Robertson, Jr. sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.51, for a total value of $524,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 492,409 shares in the company, valued at $57,370,572.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,156,270 shares of company stock valued at $254,784,327. 4.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVDA. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 884.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 213,127,959 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $26,329,751,000 after acquiring an additional 191,469,114 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 854.1% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 163,482,580 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 870.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 102,422,225 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $12,658,922,000 after acquiring an additional 91,867,031 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 1,123.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 92,039,713 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $11,371,255,000 after acquiring an additional 84,515,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of NVIDIA by 808.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 82,689,605 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $10,215,474,000 after acquiring an additional 73,589,208 shares during the last quarter. 65.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NVIDIA Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 68.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 4.27 and a quick ratio of 3.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $128.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.33.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.04. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 113.50% and a net margin of 55.04%. The business had revenue of $30.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 122.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1.88%.

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

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.