Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS) Lowered to Buy Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Cirrus Logic has been downgraded from a "strong-buy" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a shift in analyst sentiment towards the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, Cirrus Logic has a consensus target price of $121.00 and several analysts continue to rate it as a "buy," which suggests confidence in the company's future performance.
• The company recently announced a $500 million share repurchase program, reflecting the board's belief that its shares are undervalued.

Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cirrus Logic from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $120.00 target price on shares of Cirrus Logic in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cirrus Logic currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $121.00.

Cirrus Logic Price Performance

CRUS opened at $103.82 on Monday. Cirrus Logic has a one year low of $75.83 and a one year high of $147.46. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $103.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.92.

Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $407.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $361.97 million. Cirrus Logic had a return on equity of 18.38% and a net margin of 18.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cirrus Logic will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Cirrus Logic announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 6th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alexander M. Davern sold 1,000 shares of Cirrus Logic stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.62, for a total transaction of $105,620.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,907 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,208,197.34. This trade represents a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey W. Baumgartner sold 10,000 shares of Cirrus Logic stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,400,100. This represents a 41.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,305,620. Company insiders own 1.16% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cirrus Logic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cirrus Logic by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,646 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $639,849,000 after purchasing an additional 24,614 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Cirrus Logic by 6.4% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,402,284 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $239,400,000 after purchasing an additional 145,524 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Cirrus Logic by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,835,186 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $182,748,000 after purchasing an additional 196,483 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cirrus Logic during the fourth quarter worth $170,796,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cirrus Logic by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,590,744 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $158,518,000 after purchasing an additional 4,403 shares in the last quarter. 87.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic, Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, develops low-power high-precision mixed-signal processing solutions in China, the United States, and internationally. The company offers audio products, including amplifiers; codecs components that integrate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) into a single integrated circuit (IC); smart codecs, a codec with integrated digital signal processing; standalone digital signal processors; and SoundClear technology, which consists of a portfolio of tools, software, and algorithms that helps to enhance user experience with features, such as louder, high-fidelity sound, audio playback, voice capture, and hearing augmentation for use in smartphones, tablets, laptops, AR/VR headsets, home theater systems, automotive entertainment systems, and professional audio systems.

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