This article is based on publicly disclosed SEC filings and analyst reports as reported in January 2020. All figures reflect conditions at that time and should not be treated as current data.
Institutional Investors Adjust VMware Positions
According to a 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 180 Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) by approximately 7.7% during the fourth quarter. After selling 150 shares during the period, the fund held 1,793 shares of the virtualization software provider, valued at roughly $268,000 at the time of filing.
Several other institutional investors also made notable adjustments to their VMware positions around the same period:
- Forte Capital LLC ADV increased its holdings by 0.3% in Q3, adding 80 shares to reach 27,083 shares valued at approximately $4,064,000.
- IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings by 79.1% in Q4, adding 87 shares to reach 197 shares valued at approximately $30,000.
- Pacific Center for Financial Services increased its holdings by 94.3% in Q2, adding 100 shares to reach 206 shares valued at approximately $34,000.
- Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings by 2.6% in Q3, adding 100 shares to reach 4,000 shares valued at approximately $600,000.
- Psagot Investment House Ltd. increased its holdings by 9.0% in Q3, adding 115 shares to reach 1,388 shares valued at approximately $208,000.
In aggregate, institutional investors owned approximately 16.83% of VMware’s outstanding stock at the time of these filings.
Insider Share Sales
Two senior VMware executives disclosed significant share sales in SEC filings during December 2019:
- EVP Maurizio Carli sold 2,075 shares on December 12, 2019, at an average price of $154.20 per share, for a total transaction value of $319,965. Following the sale, Carli directly owned 54,375 shares, valued at approximately $8,384,625.
- CFO Zane Rowe sold 6,509 shares on December 6, 2019, at an average price of $148.40 per share, for a total transaction value of approximately $965,935. Following the sale, Rowe directly owned 121,136 shares, valued at approximately $17,976,582.
Over the 90-day period preceding these reports, company insiders collectively sold 33,296 shares valued at approximately $5,327,054. Corporate insiders owned 28.80% of VMware’s stock at the time.
Key Financial Metrics (as of January 2020)
The following stock and financial metrics were reported in connection with VMware’s share price and balance sheet at the time of publication:
- Opening share price: $151.36
- 52-week low / high: $128.69 / $206.80
- Market capitalization: approximately $62.39 billion
- P/E ratio: 9.61
- Price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio: 2.40
- Beta: 0.86
- 50-day moving average: $151.60
- 200-day moving average: $156.48
- Quick ratio / Current ratio: 0.58
- Debt-to-equity ratio: 0.63
Q3 FY2020 Earnings Results
VMware released its quarterly earnings results on November 26, 2019. Key highlights included:
- Reported EPS: $1.49, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06.
- Revenue: $2.46 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.41 billion — up 11.6% year over year.
- Net margin: 67.21%
- Return on equity: 61.67%
- Prior-year quarter EPS: $1.56
Sell-side analysts were, as a group, projecting full-year earnings per share of $4.83 for VMware’s current fiscal year at the time.
Analyst Ratings and Price Targets
A range of investment banks and research firms issued updated coverage on VMware stock in late 2019 and early 2020:
- KeyCorp raised its price target from $175 to $182 and maintained an “Overweight” rating (November 27, 2019).
- Bank of America reiterated a “Buy” rating with a $190 price target (November 28, 2019).
- Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target from $150 to $178 with a “Hold” rating (November 27, 2019).
- Nomura raised its price target from $114 to $115 with a “Reduce” rating (November 27, 2019).
- Piper Jaffray initiated coverage with an “Overweight” rating and a $170 price target (December 10, 2019).
At the time of publication, the analyst consensus stood at “Buy”, with an average price target of $178.14. The breakdown was 2 sell ratings, 9 hold ratings, and 15 buy ratings.
VMware Company Overview
VMware, Inc. is a global enterprise software company offering solutions across hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, modern application development, networking and security, and digital workspaces. Its flagship product, VMware vSphere, is a data center platform that enables compute virtualization through a hypervisor — a software layer that sits between the operating system and the underlying hardware, allowing multiple virtual machines to share physical resources efficiently.
Beyond compute virtualization, VMware provides cloud management tools designed to support automated operations, programmatic provisioning, and application performance monitoring across enterprise environments. The company operates in both the United States and international markets.
Note: VMware was subsequently acquired by Broadcom Inc. in November 2023. The ticker NYSE: VMW no longer trades. All data in this article reflects the company’s status as of January 2020.
Source: Originally reported via techknowbits.com, based on SEC filings and publicly available analyst reports.