HSBC Downgrades Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) to Hold

Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) was downgraded by HSBC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $455.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock. HSBC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 3.42% from the company’s current price.

SNPS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Synopsys from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Synopsys from $445.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Synopsys in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $580.00 target price for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of Synopsys in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Synopsys from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $547.00.

Synopsys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SNPS opened at $439.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $474.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $482.90. The company has a market cap of $84.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.12. Synopsys has a 12 month low of $365.74 and a 12 month high of $651.73.

Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The semiconductor company reported $2.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Synopsys had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 18.89%.Synopsys’s revenue was up 37.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.40 EPS. Synopsys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.320-14.400 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.520-3.580 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Synopsys will post 10.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Synopsys news, insider Janet Lee sold 250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.00, for a total value of $132,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,959 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,338,270. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Shelagh Glaser sold 3,657 shares of Synopsys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.77, for a total transaction of $1,685,035.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 17,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,221,058.34. The trade was a 17.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 4,157 shares of company stock worth $1,945,036 in the last three months. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Synopsys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Synopsys by 5.7% during the 4th 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. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Synopsys by 11.6% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 760 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Synopsys by 15.1% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Synopsys by 1.4% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Synopsys by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 85.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Synopsys

Here are the key news stories impacting Synopsys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA added a large stake in Synopsys (reported ~4.8M shares, >$2.2B at end-Q4), highlighting strategic alignment between SNPS and AI/semiconductor leaders and lending a strong institutional vote of confidence. NVIDIA’s 13F Bombshell: A New AI Power Trio Emerges
• Positive Sentiment: Board refresh: Synopsys appointed former Deloitte executive Peter A. Shimer to the board and expanded the board as part of governance updates — adds deep financial and leadership experience that investors often view as supportive for oversight and capital allocation. Synopsys Appoints Former Deloitte Executive Peter Shimer to Board of Directors and Announces Board Transitions
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership expansion: Synopsys deepened its AI design and security capabilities via a SimuTech partnership, which could broaden product adoption in AI-focused chip design workflows. Synopsys Deepens AI Design And Security Reach With SimuTech Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and earnings watch: Multiple previews (Zacks/Yahoo) flag Q1 results as a near-term catalyst — key metrics vs. guidance will likely drive short-term volatility around the report. Synopsys (SNPS) Q1 Earnings on the Horizon: Analysts’ Insights on Key Performance Measures
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed investor reaction coverage discusses AI-disruption fears, chiplet competition and the Ansys deal — narrative is mixed and could add noise to sentiment without a single clear directional effect. How Investors Are Reacting To Synopsys (SNPS) AI Disruption Fears Amid Chiplet Push And Ansys Deal
• Negative Sentiment: HSBC downgraded SNPS from Buy to Hold and set a $455 price target, a move that can weigh on sentiment and selling pressure even though the PT still implies modest upside. SNPS: HSBC downgrades

Synopsys Company Profile

Synopsys, Inc is a leading provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software and semiconductor intellectual property (IP) used to design, verify and manufacture integrated circuits and complex systems-on-chip (SoCs). Its product portfolio spans tools and technologies for front‑end design and synthesis, simulation and verification, physical implementation and signoff, and design-for-manufacturability, enabling chip designers to move from architecture through tape‑out.

In addition to core EDA offerings, Synopsys supplies a broad set of semiconductor IP building blocks — such as interface, memory and analog/mixed-signal cores — that customers integrate into SoCs to accelerate development.