Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 32,461 Shares of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. $CDNS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its Cadence stake by 1.7% in Q3, buying 32,461 shares to hold 1,964,060 shares (about 0.72% of the company) worth roughly $689.9 million.
• Insider selling accelerated recently: company insiders sold 30,810 shares worth $9.77 million in the last quarter, including CFO John M. Wall's sale of 27,805 shares for about $8.86 million (a 28.44% reduction in his holding).
• Cadence beat Q3 estimates (EPS $1.99 vs. $1.91) with revenue up 6.2% year-over-year, set Q1 and FY2026 guidance, and carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $376.50 price target and a market cap near $80 billion.

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,964,060 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 32,461 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.72% of Cadence Design Systems worth $689,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,923,317 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $9,457,084,000 after buying an additional 327,456 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Cadence Design Systems by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,318,585 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,795,972,000 after buying an additional 172,551 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,363,734 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,952,771,000 after buying an additional 77,478 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,314,407 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,866,739,000 after acquiring an additional 731,788 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cadence Design Systems during the second quarter worth approximately $1,190,618,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.85% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John M. Wall sold 27,805 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.57, for a total transaction of $8,857,838.85. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 69,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,286,201.49. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Paul Cunningham sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.78, for a total value of $297,780.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 94,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,032,115.86. This trade represents a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 30,810 shares of company stock worth $9,767,972 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $395.00 target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Cadence Design Systems from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Cadence Design Systems from $410.00 to $375.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $376.50.

Cadence Design Systems Price Performance

Shares of CDNS opened at $293.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $79.97 billion, a PE ratio of 72.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.56 and a 52-week high of $376.45. The business's 50 day moving average price is $303.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $323.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The software maker reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue 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, equities analysts anticipate that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cadence Design Systems 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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