GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. Grows Stock Position in VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW)

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. lifted its position in VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) by 39.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 116,934 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,100 shares during the period. VMware accounts for approximately 2.8% of GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.’s holdings in VMware were worth $14,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in VMware during the fourth quarter valued at $186,457,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in VMware by 181.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,210,001 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock worth $251,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,875 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in VMware by 57.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,655,951 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock valued at $326,045,000 after acquiring an additional 971,516 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in VMware by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 14,309,491 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock worth $1,786,540,000 after purchasing an additional 718,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of VMware by 170.3% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 920,663 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock worth $104,836,000 after purchasing an additional 580,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VMW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered shares of VMware from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on VMware from $125.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on VMware from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 1st. StockNews.com upgraded VMware from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on VMware from $158.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Friday, September 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, VMware presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.25.

VMware Price Performance

NYSE:VMW traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $165.11. 133,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,431,953. The company has a market cap of $71.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.70 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $157.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.94. VMware, Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.55 and a 52-week high of $170.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06.

VMware (NYSE:VMW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The virtualization software provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.45 billion. VMware had a return on equity of 136.46% and a net margin of 10.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that VMware, Inc. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jean Pierre Brulard sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.51, for a total transaction of $509,436.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,905 shares in the company, valued at $14,703,596.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 40.30% of the company’s stock.

VMware Profile

VMware, Inc provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer; and vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with VMware Aria Cloud Management into an integrated stack that delivers ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds.