William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 15,940 Shares of Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS)

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,742 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 15,940 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Synopsys were worth $21,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Synopsys by 109.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 113 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SNPS. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Synopsys from $540.00 to $520.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $660.00 price objective on shares of Synopsys in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Synopsys from $644.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Synopsys from $625.00 to $590.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Synopsys in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $638.58.

Synopsys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SNPS opened at $447.99 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $494.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $507.35. Synopsys, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $425.73 and a fifty-two week high of $624.80. The company has a market cap of $69.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synopsys news, CEO Sassine Ghazi sold 11,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.75, for a total transaction of $5,270,982.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,922 shares in the company, valued at $32,890,077.50. This trade represents a 13.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Geus Aart De sold 15,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.42, for a total value of $6,979,616.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 116,671 shares in the company, valued at $51,850,925.82. The trade was a 11.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,909 shares of company stock worth $22,794,835 in the last ninety days. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc provides electronic design automation software products used to design and test integrated circuits. It operates in three segments: Design Automation, Design IP, and Software Integrity. The company offers Digital and Custom IC Design solution that provides digital design implementation solutions; Verification solution that offers virtual prototyping, static and formal verification, simulation, emulation, field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based prototyping, and debug solutions; and FPGA design products that are programmed to perform specific functions.