Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Decreases Stock Holdings in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. $CDNS

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management cut its Cadence stake by 7.6% in Q4, selling 126,065 shares and finishing the period with 1,526,981 shares valued at about $477.3 million (roughly 0.56% ownership).
• Cadence beat Q4 estimates (EPS $1.99 vs. $1.91; revenue $1.44B vs. $1.42B) and set Q1 FY2026 EPS guidance of 1.890–1.950 and FY2026 guidance of 8.050–8.150, with analysts holding a consensus Moderate Buy and $377.06 target.
• Expanded AI-focused partnerships with TSMC, NVIDIA and Google bolster long-term growth prospects, but recent insider selling (~24,680 shares over 90 days) and a ~5% intraday sell-off on April 23 highlight short-term caution.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA decreased its position in shares of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS - Free Report) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,526,981 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 126,065 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.56% of Cadence Design Systems worth $477,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its position in Cadence Design Systems by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 5,643 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 5,762 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in Cadence Design Systems by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 937 shares of the software maker's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 157,037 shares of the software maker's stock worth $49,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,231,070 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $8,511,888,000 after purchasing an additional 307,753 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CDNS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $410.00 to $375.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $355.00 to $319.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Monday, December 29th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.06.

Cadence Design Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CDNS opened at $332.89 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $262.75 and a 52 week high of $376.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $309.14. The company has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a PE ratio of 81.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.04.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. Cadence Design Systems had a net margin of 20.93% and a return on equity of 29.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Cadence Design Systems News Roundup

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ita M. Brennan sold 180 shares of Cadence Design Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.03, for a total transaction of $53,105.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,203,874.10. The trade was a 2.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paul Cunningham sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owned 94,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,032,115.86. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 24,680 shares of company stock valued at $7,579,340 over the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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