NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Cut to Hold at Melius Research

Melius Research cut shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $185.00 target price on the computer hardware maker’s stock, down from their previous target price of $315.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Yorkville Ives began coverage on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of NVIDIA from $307.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Aletheia Capital cut NVIDIA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 9th. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.89.

NVIDIA Price Performance

NASDAQ NVDA traded down $3.34 on Thursday, reaching $162.85. 363,372,273 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 196,617,360. NVIDIA has a 12 month low of $148.80 and a 12 month high of $243.37. The company has a market cap of $3.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.12. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 4.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.27 billion. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 96.04% and a net margin of 63.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 105.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NVIDIA will post 9.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

NVIDIA announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 28th that permits the company to repurchase $150 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer hardware maker to buy up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NVIDIA news, EVP Timothy Teter sold 30,460 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.80, for a total transaction of $6,786,488.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,687,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,810,648. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark Stevens sold 622,239 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.62, for a total value of $144,122,997.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,766,118 shares of company stock valued at $399,450,353. Company insiders own 3.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NVIDIA

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVDA. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 1.5% during 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 2.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,165,875 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 133,768,018 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $23,329,141,000 after acquiring an additional 12,575,177 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 2.3% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 91,954,159 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $18,399,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 94,521,253 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $16,479,126,000 after acquiring an additional 555,221 shares in the last quarter. 65.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key NVIDIA News

These are some of the NVDA news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Despite cutting its price target to $300, Rosenblatt Securities maintained a Buy rating; other coverage also points to continued investor optimism about NVIDIA’s long-term growth potential. Rosenblatt Securities rating
• Positive Sentiment: Investors will look to the November 17 earnings report for evidence that AI demand remains robust. Articles cite strong infrastructure spending and a $108 billion revenue outlook as potential supports for the business. NVIDIA earnings preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also being urged to judge AI demand by the revenue generated from computing capacity—not just the capital companies spend to build it. That could sharpen questions about how quickly AI infrastructure investments translate into sales. Barron’s analysis of AI revenue

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.