Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) Stock Price

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has reduced its price target for Synopsys from $630.00 to $550.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.00% from the company's previous close.
• Other firms such as Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also updated their ratings and price targets for Synopsys, reflecting a cautious outlook on the semiconductor company.
• Despite recent downgrades, Synopsys maintains a consensus average rating of "Moderate Buy" with 11 analysts rating it as a Buy.

Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $630.00 to $550.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the semiconductor company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target suggests a potential upside of 29.27% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on SNPS. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Synopsys in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $620.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Synopsys from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Synopsys from $660.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $715.00 price target (up previously from $540.00) on shares of Synopsys in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (down previously from $625.00) on shares of Synopsys in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Synopsys has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $585.33.

Synopsys Trading Down 2.9%

Synopsys stock traded down $12.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $425.45. The company had a trading volume of 6,682,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,823,175. Synopsys has a 1-year low of $365.74 and a 1-year high of $651.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 6.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $590.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $506.54. The stock has a market cap of $79.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Synopsys

In other Synopsys news, CEO Sassine Ghazi sold 11,366 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.01, for a total value of $6,694,687.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 71,615 shares in the company, valued at $42,181,951.15. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Richard S. Mahoney sold 9,010 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.21, for a total transaction of $4,245,602.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 1,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $699,746.85. This represents a 85.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,031 shares of company stock worth $13,168,999 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Synopsys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SNPS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Synopsys by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 921 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Synopsys by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,557 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,241,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wealth Partners increased its stake in Synopsys by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 890 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Synopsys by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,691,501 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $820,987,000 after buying an additional 182,115 shares during the period. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Synopsys during the 4th quarter worth $640,000. 85.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.