NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Stock Price Down 1.6% – Here’s What Happened

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s stock price fell 1.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $186.51 and last traded at $186.94. 186,663,080 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 171,391,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.05.

Key Headlines Impacting NVIDIA

Here are the key news stories impacting NVIDIA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain constructive: several firms have raised price targets and reiterated buy ratings ahead of NVIDIA’s upcoming earnings, reinforcing expectations for strong revenue from AI data-center demand. Nvidia price target boosted on positive earnings setup ahead of GTC event
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying in filings (e.g., Cardano Risk Management and Haverford Trust additions) signals continued conviction from some big holders, providing a structural bid under the stock. Fund Update: 70,283,539 NVIDIA (NVDA) shares added to Cardano Risk Management B.V. portfolio
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain strong — NVIDIA is widely expected to hit very large data-center revenue targets driven by Blackwell shipments and data-center capex, supporting long-term earnings upside. Will Data Center Unit Help NVIDIA Reach Its $65B Q4 Revenue Goal?
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro is mixed but not hostile — CPI came in roughly as expected, so inflation-driven rate shocks are not the primary driver of today’s move. CPI Increased in Line With Expectations
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported plans to lease a Nevada data center financed via high-yield debt raise financing/strategy questions for some investors, but detail is limited so the market impact is unclear. Nvidia to lease Nevada data center financed by junk bonds: report
• Negative Sentiment: Customer diversification headlines: Arista’s CEO said deployments are shifting away from near-100% NVIDIA to a meaningful share using AMD, signaling competitors are gaining traction in some workloads — a clear near-term headwind for NVDA sentiment. Nvidia’s stock is down and AMD is up. The culprit may be Arista.
• Negative Sentiment: Big customers and AI firms are publicly pursuing chip diversification (reports on OpenAI exploring alternatives), which increases competitive risk and can pressure sentiment even if NVIDIA remains the market leader. AI firms like OpenAI seek Nvidia alternatives
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/export concerns resurfaced after a U.S. lawmaker hinted at restrictions on AI chip sales to China, creating uncertainty around a material end market and weighing on the stock. Nvidia (NVDA) Slides as U.S. Lawmaker Hints at AI Chip Sales to China
• Negative Sentiment: Short-term profit-taking and “crowded trade” unwinding in semiconductors contributed to selling pressure after a strong multi-week run; this technical/flow-driven selling can amplify any negative headline. Nvidia stock tumbles over 2%: why investors are booking profits
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and some fund trims have been reported recently, which can add to near-term caution even though institutional activity is mixed. Nvidia insiders dump over $100 million of NVDA stock since 2026 started

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NVDA shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Zacks Research lowered NVIDIA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Friday, December 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $264.20.

NVIDIA Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $184.72 and a 200-day moving average of $183.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a current ratio of 4.47, a quick ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The computer hardware maker reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.07. NVIDIA had a net margin of 53.01% and a return on equity of 99.24%. The firm had revenue of $57.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 62.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NVIDIA Corporation will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.0%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 0.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NVIDIA news, EVP Ajay K. Puri sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.82, for a total value of $37,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,818,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $717,199,497.54. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Harvey C. Jones sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.33, for a total value of $44,332,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,933,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,478,542.40. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 1,611,474 shares of company stock valued at $291,731,692 over the last 90 days. 4.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NVIDIA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NVIDIA in the fourth quarter worth $62,244,133,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in NVIDIA by 896.4% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 78,123,960 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $14,570,119,000 after purchasing an additional 70,283,539 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in NVIDIA by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 165,377,852 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $30,855,564,000 after buying an additional 22,896,705 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in NVIDIA by 15,496.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,865,525 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $3,454,534,000 after buying an additional 21,725,326 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of NVIDIA during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,180,313,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.27% of the company’s stock.

NVIDIA Company Profile

NVIDIA Corporation, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a global technology company that designs and develops graphics processing units (GPUs) and system-on-chip (SoC) technologies. Co-founded by Jensen Huang, who serves as president and chief executive officer, along with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, NVIDIA has grown from a graphics-focused chipmaker into a broad provider of accelerated computing hardware and software for multiple industries.

The company’s product portfolio spans discrete GPUs for gaming and professional visualization (marketed under the GeForce and NVIDIA RTX lines), high-performance data center accelerators used for AI training and inference (including widely adopted platforms such as the A100 and H100 series), and Tegra SoCs for automotive and edge applications.