Ascension Asset Management LLC Acquires 155,050 Shares of NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Ascension Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NVIDIA Co. (NASDAQ:NVDA) by 842.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 173,450 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after buying an additional 155,050 shares during the period. NVIDIA makes up approximately 11.0% of Ascension Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Ascension Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $21,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diversified Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the first quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,635,000. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 3.0% in the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 9,132 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $7,853,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 49.2% in the first quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 785 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 6.5% in the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 5,920 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $5,349,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.27% of the company’s stock.

NVIDIA Stock Down 4.7 %

NVIDIA stock opened at $132.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 62.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.27, a quick ratio of 3.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. NVIDIA Co. has a 1-year low of $39.23 and a 1-year high of $144.42.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $30.04 billion for 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%. NVIDIA’s revenue for the quarter was up 122.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 12th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA’s payout ratio is presently 1.88%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on NVDA shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of NVIDIA from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. New Street Research upgraded shares of NVIDIA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NVIDIA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.07.

Insider Activity at NVIDIA

In related news, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 155,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.27, for a total value of $20,501,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,100,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,402,475.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 155,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.27, for a total value of $20,501,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,100,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,402,475.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.61, for a total transaction of $15,326,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,255,117 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,159,895.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,516,270 shares of company stock worth $291,803,127. 4.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NVIDIA 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.