NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on NXPI. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on NXP Semiconductors from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price (down from $305.00) on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.65.

NXP Semiconductors Stock Down 1.7%

NXP Semiconductors stock opened at $223.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $248.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $251.64. NXP Semiconductors has a twelve month low of $183.00 and a twelve month high of $339.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The semiconductor provider reported $3.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.09. NXP Semiconductors had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 22.56%.The business had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that NXP Semiconductors will post 13.73 earnings per share for the current year.

NXP Semiconductors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.014 per share. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. NXP Semiconductors’s payout ratio is presently 34.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NXP Semiconductors news, EVP Andrew Micallef sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.57, for a total value of $315,570.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,821,826.94. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NXP Semiconductors

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 213 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,464 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,305 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its position in NXP Semiconductors by 4.6% during the second quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,193 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 3,813 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 90.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a global semiconductor company headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, that designs and supplies mixed-signal and standard product solutions for a broad range of end markets. The company focuses on enabling secure connections and infrastructure for embedded applications, developing technologies used across automotive, industrial and Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, and communication infrastructure segments. NXP’s offerings target customers that require reliable, secure, and high-performance semiconductor components for connected devices and systems.

Product lines include microcontrollers and application processors, secure elements and authentication technologies, RF and high-power analog components, connectivity solutions, and vehicle networking and infotainment systems.