NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $170.00 price target on the computer hardware maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wolfe Research raised their target price on NVIDIA from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of NVIDIA from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of NVIDIA from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Monday, August 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $142.10.

NVIDIA Stock Up 1.5 %

NVIDIA stock opened at $119.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.81, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.68. NVIDIA has a 52-week low of $39.23 and a 52-week high of $140.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.14 and a current ratio of 4.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $120.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.55.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. NVIDIA’s quarterly revenue was up 122.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NVIDIA will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

NVIDIA Cuts Dividend

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

NVIDIA declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at NVIDIA

In other news, EVP Debora Shoquist sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.16, for a total transaction of $17,273,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,553,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,914,477.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Donald F. Robertson, Jr. sold 4,500 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.17, for a total value of $576,765.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 503,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,582,043.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Debora Shoquist sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.16, for a total transaction of $17,273,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,553,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,914,477.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,932,333 shares of company stock valued at $589,034,302 over the last three months. 4.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NVIDIA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in NVIDIA by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,335,626 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $192,761,538,000 after purchasing an additional 8,828,050 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of NVIDIA by 884.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 213,127,959 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $26,329,751,000 after buying an additional 191,469,114 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $22,561,200,000 after buying an additional 163,482,580 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $12,658,922,000 after acquiring an additional 91,867,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in NVIDIA by 1,123.2% in 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 period. 65.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.