Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $3.10 Million Stock Holdings in Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Synopsys, Inc. by 12.3%, ending with 7,221 shares valued at approximately $3.1 million.
• Insider sales by both CRO Richard S. Mahoney and CEO Sassine Ghazi resulted in significant decreases of their holdings, with Mahoney reducing his ownership by 85.85%.
• Brokerages have issued buy ratings for Synopsys, with target prices ranging from $550 to $660, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,221 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,014 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Synopsys were worth $3,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Synopsys by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 840 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Peninsula Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Synopsys by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,050,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Synopsys by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 4,650 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,257,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in Synopsys by 0.7% in the first quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 3,290 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Synopsys by 2.7% in the first quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.47% of the company's stock.

Synopsys Price Performance

Shares of Synopsys stock traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $619.42. The company had a trading volume of 700,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,441,283. The company has a current ratio of 7.02, a quick ratio of 6.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $96.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $544.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.35. Synopsys, Inc. has a 1-year low of $365.74 and a 1-year high of $651.73.

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

Insider Activity at Synopsys

In related news, 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 value of $3,550,613.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,427,144.52. This trade represents a 32.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owned 71,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,782,750.77. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,686 shares of company stock valued at $13,001,048 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Synopsys from $650.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Synopsys from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Synopsys in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $620.00 price target for the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Synopsys from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $660.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Synopsys in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $622.33.

Synopsys 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.