Impax Asset Management Group plc Grows Stake in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. $CDNS

Key Points

• Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its Cadence position by 20.7% in Q4 to 538,545 shares (about 0.20% of the company), valued at roughly $168.34 million.
• Cadence is deepening AI-focused partnerships with TSMC, NVIDIA and Google, moves that should increase its relevance to AI chip customers and support longer-term revenue growth.
• Fundamentals and sentiment: Cadence beat Q4 estimates (EPS $1.99 vs. $1.91; revenue $1.44B), carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $377.06 price target, but trades at a high P/E (~82) and has seen recent insider selling.

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS - Free Report) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 538,545 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 92,203 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned about 0.20% of Cadence Design Systems worth $168,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the third quarter worth $26,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the third quarter worth $29,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the third quarter worth $31,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the third quarter worth $35,000. 84.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CDNS has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $395.00 target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $410.00 to $375.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cadence Design Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.06.

Key Cadence Design Systems News

Here are the key news stories impacting Cadence Design Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded TSMC alliance accelerates AI-focused chip design — A Cadence–TSMC tie-up targets advanced nodes, silicon-proven IP and AI-driven tools that should increase Cadence relevance to AI chip customers and support longer-term revenue growth. Cadence Expands TSMC Alliance
• Positive Sentiment: Deeper NVIDIA collaboration strengthens AI tool stack — Expanded Cadence–NVIDIA work on agentic AI and digital-twin solutions increases product stickiness with a major AI infrastructure partner, supporting higher-value, enterprise deployments. Cadence And NVIDIA Deepen AI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Google partnership expands cloud and agent integration — A tie-up with Google to optimize Cadence’s ChipStack AI Super-Agent on Gemini/Google Cloud broadens go-to-market channels and enterprise adoption potential. Alphabet Partners with Cadence
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst backing — Rosenblatt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $360 price target, offering visible upside from current levels and adding confidence for momentum buyers. Analyst Note from Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest trend mostly eased — April 15 data show a meaningful drop in short interest (~18% down to ~5.91M shares, ~2.2% of float), which reduces immediate downside pressure from short covering events. (Internal data)
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings preview/expectations mixed — Pre-earnings commentary highlights strong AI-driven demand and backlog but flags macro and competitive risks; Rosenblatt expects a revenue beat but a potential EPS miss, implying the print could spark volatility either way. Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Conflicting/erroneous short-interest report — One April data entry shows zero short interest (likely a reporting error), so treat intraday short-interest signals as uncertain until official filings settle. (Internal data)
• Negative Sentiment: Recent intraday sell-off shows investor caution — CDNS fell ~5% on April 23, indicating profit-taking or pre-earnings risk that could continue if the upcoming quarterly report disappoints or guidance is conservative. Intraday Drop Coverage

Cadence Design Systems Stock Up 5.9%

CDNS opened at $332.89 on Friday. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $262.75 and a fifty-two week high of $376.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $293.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $309.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.99, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.04.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.08. Cadence Design Systems had a net margin of 20.93% and a return on equity of 29.34%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Cadence Design Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.950 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.050-8.150 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cadence Design Systems

In other news, VP Paul Cunningham sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.78, for a total transaction of $297,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 94,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,032,115.86. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John M. Wall sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.45, for a total transaction of $6,653,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,883,468.75. This represents a 19.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,680 shares of company stock valued at $7,579,340. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Cadence Design Systems Company Profile

Cadence Design Systems, Inc NASDAQ: CDNS is a global provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software, hardware and intellectual property used to design and verify advanced semiconductor chips, systems-on-chip (SoCs), printed circuit boards (PCBs) and packaging. Headquartered in San Jose, California and founded in 1988, Cadence serves semiconductor companies, original equipment manufacturers and system designers across the globe, helping customers accelerate design cycles and manage the complexity of modern integrated systems.

The company's offerings span software tools for digital, custom/analog and mixed-signal design, verification and signoff, as well as solutions for system-level modeling, thermal and signal integrity analysis, and PCB and package design.

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