STMicroelectronics Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:STM)

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 5,152 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 30% compared to the typical volume of 3,975 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On STMicroelectronics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in STMicroelectronics in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of STMicroelectronics by 225.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of STMicroelectronics by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,862 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in STMicroelectronics by 197.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,779 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of STMicroelectronics during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STM has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on STMicroelectronics from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America cut shares of STMicroelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of STMicroelectronics in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank cut STMicroelectronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised STMicroelectronics from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.97.

STMicroelectronics Stock Performance

STMicroelectronics stock opened at $28.28 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.56. STMicroelectronics has a twelve month low of $17.25 and a twelve month high of $45.39.

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.02. STMicroelectronics had a return on equity of 8.92% and a net margin of 11.74%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that STMicroelectronics will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STMicroelectronics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 24th. STMicroelectronics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.42%.

STMicroelectronics Company Profile

STMicroelectronics N.V., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through Automotive and Discrete Group; Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group; and Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group segments.