Sciencast Management LP Invests $1.88 Million in NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI)

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,603 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,884,000. NXP Semiconductors accounts for 1.1% of Sciencast Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,011,534 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $2,529,129,000 after purchasing an additional 118,562 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NXP Semiconductors in the fourth quarter valued at $762,077,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in NXP Semiconductors by 893.2% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,332,578 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $535,747,000 after buying an additional 2,097,727 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in NXP Semiconductors by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,644,696 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $407,506,000 after buying an additional 325,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 1,564,236 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $359,274,000 after acquiring an additional 65,741 shares in the last quarter. 90.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NXPI. Evercore ISI raised their target price on NXP Semiconductors from $300.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $295.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $271.24.

NXP Semiconductors Stock Performance

NXPI traded up $5.61 during trading on Friday, reaching $280.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,558,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,420. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $271.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.33. NXP Semiconductors has a 52-week low of $167.21 and a 52-week high of $286.87. The company has a market capitalization of $71.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.49.

NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The semiconductor provider reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.07. NXP Semiconductors had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 21.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that NXP Semiconductors will post 12.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NXP Semiconductors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $1.014 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. NXP Semiconductors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.49%.

Insider Activity

In other NXP Semiconductors news, CEO Kurt Sievers sold 8,548 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.75, for a total value of $2,357,111.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 177,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,052,891.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. offers various semiconductor products. The company's product portfolio includes microcontrollers; application processors, including i.MX application processors, and i.MX 8 and 9 family of applications processors; communication processors; wireless connectivity solutions, such as near field communications, ultra-wideband, Bluetooth low-energy, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth integrated SoCs; analog and interface devices; radio frequency power amplifiers; and security controllers, as well as semiconductor-based environmental and inertial sensors, including pressure, inertial, magnetic, and gyroscopic sensors.