Merlin Capital Inc Decreases Stock Holdings in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS)

Merlin Capital Inc decreased its holdings in Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,630 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Cadence Design Systems makes up 2.3% of Merlin Capital Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Merlin Capital Inc’s holdings in Cadence Design Systems were worth $716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 124.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,895,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $515,995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,228 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 143.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,634,920 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $383,062,000 after acquiring an additional 962,987 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Cadence Design Systems by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,047,231 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,651,166,000 after acquiring an additional 564,085 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 261.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 620,561 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $169,022,000 after purchasing an additional 448,918 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 26,060.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 278,090 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $757,430,000 after purchasing an additional 277,027 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.85% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cadence Design Systems news, Director Vincentelli Albert Sangiovanni sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.83, for a total value of $463,245.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 50,183 shares in the company, valued at $15,498,015.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Vincentelli Albert Sangiovanni sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.83, for a total transaction of $463,245.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 50,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,498,015.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Aneel Zaman sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.90, for a total value of $366,807.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 61,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,583,485. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 173,044 shares of company stock worth $52,231,207 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Cadence Design Systems Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:CDNS traded down $4.67 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $277.82. 589,231 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,564,269. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $303.69 and its 200-day moving average is $281.82. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $198.92 and a 12-month high of $327.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.04. Cadence Design Systems had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 25.68%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. Cadence Design Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. will post 4.78 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CDNS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Cadence Design Systems from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Friday, April 19th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cadence Design Systems from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Cadence Design Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cadence Design Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.11.

About Cadence Design Systems

Cadence Design Systems, Inc provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks worldwide. The company offers functional verification services, including emulation and prototyping hardware. Its functional verification offering consists of JasperGold, a formal verification platform; Xcelium, a parallel logic simulation platform; Palladium, an enterprise emulation platform; and Protium, a prototyping platform for chip verification.