Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) Short Interest Down 19.8% in August

Key Points

• As of August 31st, Synopsys, Inc. experienced a 19.8% decline in short interest, with a total of 3,240,000 shares sold short, representing approximately 2.1% of the company's shares.
• Wall Street analysts have lowered their price targets for Synopsys, with recent reports indicating targets ranging from $510.00 to $630.00, amidst mixed ratings, including eleven "Buy" ratings and three "Sell" ratings.
• Insider trades show activity from Director Robert G. Painter, who purchased 350 shares at $425.44 each, increasing his ownership by 18.03%, while CEO Sassine Ghazi sold 11,366 shares at an average of $589.01, reducing his stake by 13.70%.

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,240,000 shares, a drop of 19.8% from the August 15th total of 4,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Approximately 2.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synopsys news, CEO Sassine Ghazi sold 11,366 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.01, for a total transaction of $6,694,687.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 71,615 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,181,951.15. The trade was a 13.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Shelagh Glaser sold 3,655 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.77, for a total value of $2,228,709.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 15,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,339,847.09. The trade was a 19.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Synopsys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNPS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Synopsys in the second quarter valued at about $647,964,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Synopsys by 54,286.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,196,492 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $513,116,000 after buying an additional 1,194,292 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Synopsys during the first quarter worth $341,480,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Synopsys by 38.3% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,432,596 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,043,518,000 after acquiring an additional 673,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Synopsys by 29.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,598,874 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,333,095,000 after acquiring an additional 585,494 shares during the period. 85.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SNPS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Synopsys from $685.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Synopsys from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Synopsys from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Synopsys from $630.00 to $550.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Synopsys from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $585.33.

Synopsys Stock Performance

Synopsys stock traded up $19.29 on Monday, reaching $514.79. 4,773,051 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,077,129. The stock has a market cap of $95.62 billion, a PE ratio of 40.41, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $579.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $507.65. Synopsys has a twelve month low of $365.74 and a twelve month high of $651.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

About Synopsys

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.