Short Interest in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) Declines By 18.0%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 18.0% in April to 5,910,408 shares (about 2.2% of shares), leaving a short-interest ratio of roughly 2.9 days based on average daily volume.
• Cadence beat Q1 estimates with EPS $1.96 vs. $1.89 and revenue of $1.47B (up 18.6% YoY), issued FY2026 guidance of 7.85–7.95 EPS and Q2 guidance of 2.02–2.08, and saw analysts raise price targets toward an average of $380.59 with a "Moderate Buy" consensus.
• Major institutional investors increased stakes (Norges Bank, J. Stern, Wellington), giving institutions 84.85% ownership, while insiders sold about 24,680 shares (~$7.58M) in the quarter.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,910,408 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the March 31st total of 7,205,915 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,044,509 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Cadence Design Systems Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ CDNS traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $329.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,049,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,527,712. The company has a market capitalization of $90.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $295.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $309.19. Cadence Design Systems has a 52 week low of $262.75 and a 52 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.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The software maker reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. Cadence Design Systems had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 30.26%. Cadence Design Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. Cadence Design Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.850-7.950 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.080 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cadence Design Systems will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CDNS. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Cadence Design Systems from $319.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $395.00 price target on Cadence Design Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Cadence Design Systems from $381.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cadence Design Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $380.59.

Insider Activity at Cadence Design Systems

In other Cadence Design Systems news, CFO John M. Wall sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,883,468.75. This trade represents a 19.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Paul Cunningham sold 1,000 shares of Cadence Design Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.19, for a total transaction of $280,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 128,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,028,511.34. This trade represents a 0.77% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 24,680 shares of company stock valued at $7,579,340 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cadence Design Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,352,922,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 10,159.3% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,953,256 shares of the software maker's stock worth $923,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924,470 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 218.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,553,225 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $798,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751,927 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 16.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 120.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,124,417 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $351,470,000 after acquiring an additional 615,440 shares during the last quarter. 84.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cadence Design Systems

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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