4,689 NVIDIA Corporation $NVDA Shares Sold by First Merchants Corp

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp. trimmed its NVIDIA stake by 4,689 shares, or 2.9%, in the third quarter, ending with 158,022 shares valued at about $36.1 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.27% of NVIDIA shares; several large investors increased holdings, including VanEck Associates, State Street and Amundi.
• NVIDIA’s latest quarter beat earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 105.9% year over year. The company also approved a $150 billion share-buyback plan.

First Merchants Corp decreased its position in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,022 shares of the computer hardware maker's stock after selling 4,689 shares during the period. NVIDIA comprises 1.2% of First Merchants Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. First Merchants Corp's holdings in NVIDIA were worth $36,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NVDA. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in NVIDIA in the second quarter valued at about $16,156,076,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 34.7% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 75,849,721 shares of the computer hardware maker's stock worth $15,176,771,000 after acquiring an additional 19,522,304 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,009,783,437 shares of the computer hardware maker's stock worth $202,047,568,000 after acquiring an additional 15,897,836 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 10.4% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,315,956,000. 65.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NVIDIA News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting NVIDIA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA’s underlying business remains strong: its latest reported quarter beat estimates, with revenue up 105.9% year over year. That growth may help support the stock if the controversy does not disrupt operations. Article: Jensen Huang Might Be the Biggest Wild Card for Nvidia Stock
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced a South Korean AI-infrastructure collaboration with Rebellions and SK Telecom, extending use of NVIDIA’s NVLink platform. Article: NVIDIA, Rebellions and SK Telecom Announce Collaboration
• Neutral Sentiment: NVIDIA’s board has begun an independent investigation into reports that Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it has no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised; Huang says he is cooperating. The outcome remains uncertain. Article: Statement from NVIDIA Board of Directors
• Negative Sentiment: The investigation follows Huang’s admission of an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at a company that buys NVIDIA chips, who U.S. intelligence reportedly suspects of links to Chinese intelligence. Investors are concerned about potential exposure of sensitive information, reputational damage, and complications for NVIDIA’s China business. Article: Nvidia Shares Slump on Spy Probe
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder litigation and possible congressional scrutiny add legal and regulatory risks. Questions about Huang’s future also weigh on sentiment, as reports say NVIDIA has no clear public succession plan for its founder and long-serving CEO. Article: Nvidia’s CEO Turmoil Gives Democrats Fresh Ammunition for Oversight Article: Jensen Huang Affair Puts Nvidia’s Future at Risk

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Timothy S. Teter sold 30,460 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.80, for a total value of $6,786,488.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,687,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Colette Kress sold 34,918 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,766,118 shares of company stock valued at $399,450,353. 3.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NVIDIA Price Performance

NVIDIA stock opened at $178.67 on Tuesday. NVIDIA Corporation has a 1 year low of $164.27 and a 1 year high of $243.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $219.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.50. The company has a market cap of $4.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 4.59.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 net margin of 63.66% and a return on equity of 96.04%. NVIDIA's revenue was up 105.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NVIDIA Corporation will post 9.30 earnings per share for the current year.

NVIDIA declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

NVIDIA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. NVIDIA's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NVDA shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of NVIDIA from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. China Renaissance upped their price target on shares of NVIDIA from $319.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Aletheia Capital cut shares of NVIDIA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded NVIDIA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NVIDIA currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $317.57.

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.

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