NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Rating Lowered to Hold at Craig Hallum

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) was downgraded by investment analysts at Craig Hallum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $180.00 price objective on the computer hardware maker’s stock. Craig Hallum‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.86% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded NVIDIA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on NVIDIA from $300.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $205.00 price target on NVIDIA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut NVIDIA from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NVIDIA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.97.

NVIDIA Stock Performance

Shares of NVIDIA stock traded down $8.38 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $165.35. The company had a trading volume of 555,136,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,650,969. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $217.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.59 and a quick ratio of 3.85. NVIDIA has a 1-year low of $148.80 and a 1-year high of $243.37.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.27 billion. NVIDIA had a net margin of 63.66% and a return on equity of 96.04%. NVIDIA’s revenue was up 105.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NVIDIA will post 9.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 28th that allows the company to buy back $150 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the computer hardware maker to reacquire up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Colette Kress sold 34,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.05, for a total value of $7,648,787.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 765,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,595,812.15. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 622,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.62, for a total transaction of $144,122,997.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,336,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $541,187,310.22. The trade was a 21.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,766,118 shares of company stock valued at $399,450,353 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in NVIDIA by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,025,075,347 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $234,355,574,000 after buying an additional 15,291,910 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in NVIDIA by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 195,366,864 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $39,090,956,000 after buying an additional 4,165,875 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in NVIDIA by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 133,768,018 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $23,329,141,000 after buying an additional 12,575,177 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in NVIDIA by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 91,954,159 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $18,399,108,000 after buying an additional 2,045,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in NVIDIA by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 94,521,253 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $16,479,126,000 after buying an additional 555,221 shares during the period. 65.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Latest NVIDIA News

Investors following NVDA have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA says interim CEO and CFO Colette Kress, backed by the experienced leadership team, will maintain operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap while the board searches for a permanent CEO. The company’s Nov. 17 earnings report remains scheduled. NVIDIA announces CEO transition
• Neutral Sentiment: The board appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first chair and is considering internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO. These moves establish a transition process, but the eventual leadership choice and its strategic implications remain uncertain. NVIDIA interim leadership
• Negative Sentiment: Huang’s departure removes the leader closely associated with NVIDIA’s rise and leaves investors facing succession uncertainty. Reports tying the controversy to possible Chinese intelligence activity have also renewed national-security and export-control concerns, which could affect sentiment and the company’s business environment. Reuters on NVIDIA’s interim CEO

NVIDIA Company Profile

NVIDIA Corporation develops graphics processing units (GPUs), accelerated computing platforms and related software. Founded in 1993, the company first became widely known for GPUs used in PC gaming and professional graphics. Its technology now also supports artificial intelligence, scientific computing and other data-intensive applications. NVIDIA’s offerings include GeForce products for gaming, data-center GPUs and systems for AI workloads, and networking products that connect computing infrastructure.