Insider Selling: Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) CFO Sells 21,500 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• CFO John Wall sold 21,500 shares at an average price of $309.45 for roughly $6.65M, cutting his stake by 19.84% to 86,875 shares; the transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Shares traded up about 2.4% to $318.55 after the filing; the company has a market cap near $87.95B and a high trailing P/E (~78.5), signaling an elevated valuation.
• Cadence recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and issued Q1 and FY2026 guidance (Q1: $1.890–1.950, FY: $8.050–8.150), while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $377.06.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) CFO John Wall sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.45, for a total value of $6,653,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 86,875 shares in the company, valued at $26,883,468.75. This trade represents a 19.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Cadence Design Systems Trading Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:CDNS traded up $7.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $318.55. 2,266,676 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,474,465. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.46, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $291.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $309.78. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $247.70 and a 12-month high of $376.45.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.42 billion. Cadence Design Systems had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 20.93%.The company's revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CDNS shares. Piper Sandler reduced 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 report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $395.00 price target on Cadence Design Systems in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Cadence Design Systems from $410.00 to $375.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cadence Design Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 860.0% during the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 96 shares of the software maker's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Cadence Design Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cadence Design Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 84.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.