STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE:STM) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 32,659 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 70% compared to the typical daily volume of 19,187 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of STMicroelectronics in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of STMicroelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded STMicroelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Barclays set a $60.00 target price on STMicroelectronics in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on STMicroelectronics from $67.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.17.

STMicroelectronics Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of STM stock opened at $46.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.42 and a beta of 1.96. STMicroelectronics has a 1 year low of $21.11 and a 1 year high of $81.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.