Empowered Funds LLC Takes Position in Synaptics Incorporated $SYNA

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,949 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $863,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Synaptics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $153,998,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of Synaptics during the second quarter worth $133,656,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Synaptics by 469.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 814,684 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $60,304,000 after buying an additional 671,647 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Synaptics during the second quarter valued at $56,649,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Synaptics during the second quarter valued at $47,394,000. 99.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Synaptics

In other news, insider Lisa Bodensteiner sold 6,056 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.62, for a total transaction of $627,522.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 78,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,148,055.08. This represents a 7.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Vikram Gupta sold 4,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.49, for a total value of $404,133.73. Following the transaction, the insider owned 99,191 shares in the company, valued at $9,372,557.59. This represents a 4.13% 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 15,867 shares of company stock valued at $1,624,996 in the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Synaptics Stock Performance

Shares of SYNA stock opened at $98.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of -7.83 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Synaptics Incorporated has a 52-week low of $58.28 and a 52-week high of $149.11.

Synaptics (NASDAQ:SYNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $308.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $305.32 million. Synaptics had a positive return on equity of 4.37% and a negative net margin of 41.00%.Synaptics’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Synaptics Incorporated will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SYNA. Weiss Ratings lowered Synaptics from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Synaptics from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Synaptics from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Synaptics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Synaptics from $128.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Synaptics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.91.

Synaptics Profile

Synaptics Incorporated is a global developer and supplier of human interface solutions for computing, networking, communications, and entertainment devices. The company specializes in the design, development and integration of custom chips and software that enable intuitive, natural user interactions. Synaptics solutions support touch, display, audio and biometrics functions, facilitating seamless human-to-machine interfaces across a broad range of end markets.

Key product offerings include touch controllers for laptops and tablets, capacitive touchscreens and display drivers for mobile devices, fingerprint sensors and secure authentication modules, as well as advanced audio processing and voice enhancement technologies.