American Century Companies Inc. Buys 32,123 Shares of Synopsys, Inc. $SNPS

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Synopsys, Inc. by 5.6%, acquiring an additional 32,123 shares, bringing its total holdings to 603,597 shares valued at approximately $258.9 million.
• Multiple institutional investors also adjusted their stakes, with Aberdeen Group plc raising its investment by 79.4% and Element Capital Management LLC entering a new position worth about $2.6 million.
• Analysts have issued a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Synopsys, with recent price targets ranging from $550.00 to $660.00, reflecting positive sentiment toward the company's growth prospects.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS - Free Report) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 603,597 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 32,123 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.39% of Synopsys worth $258,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SNPS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Synopsys by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 921 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Synopsys by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,681 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at about $228,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Synopsys during the fourth quarter valued at about $453,000. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Synopsys by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. 85.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SNPS. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $660.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Synopsys in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Synopsys from $540.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on Synopsys from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Synopsys from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $550.00 target price on Synopsys in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Synopsys has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $630.67.

Synopsys Stock Up 0.3%

SNPS traded up $1.55 on Friday, hitting $617.91. The company had a trading volume of 881,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,514,814. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 7.02 and a quick ratio of 6.85. Synopsys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $365.74 and a 52-week high of $651.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $558.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $497.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.15.

Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.27. Synopsys had a net margin of 34.77% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Synopsys, Inc. will post 10.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sassine Ghazi sold 11,366 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.93, for a total transaction of $5,204,832.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 71,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,782,750.77. This trade represents a 13.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Shelagh Glaser sold 7,310 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $485.72, for a total transaction of $3,550,613.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 15,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,427,144.52. This trade represents a 32.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,686 shares of company stock worth $13,001,048. Insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Synopsys Company Profile

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.