Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of STMicroelectronics Call Options (NYSE:STM)

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE:STM) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 32,659 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average daily volume of 19,187 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on STM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on STMicroelectronics from $67.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen cut STMicroelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Zacks Research cut STMicroelectronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays set a $60.00 target price on STMicroelectronics in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on STMicroelectronics from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On STMicroelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Situational Awareness LP bought a new stake in STMicroelectronics in the second quarter valued at $584,344,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in STMicroelectronics during the 1st quarter valued at about $19,132,000. Beaconlight Capital LLC bought a new position in STMicroelectronics in the 1st quarter worth about $13,284,000. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in STMicroelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth about $15,857,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of STMicroelectronics by 29.9% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 277,370 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $9,583,000 after purchasing an additional 63,786 shares during the period. 5.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

STMicroelectronics Stock Down 5.4%

Shares of NYSE:STM traded down $2.69 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,536,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,060,983. STMicroelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $21.11 and a fifty-two week high of $81.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.78. The company has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a PE ratio of 92.04 and a beta of 1.96.

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.05. STMicroelectronics had a return on equity of 4.30% and a net margin of 3.56%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that STMicroelectronics will post 1.30 EPS for the current year.

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) is a global semiconductor company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of electronic components and solutions. Its products support applications in automotive, industrial, personal electronics, communications infrastructure and other technology markets.

The company’s portfolio includes microcontrollers, microprocessors, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, power semiconductors, sensors, MEMS devices, connectivity products and embedded-processing solutions.