NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) Stake Trimmed by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,343 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NXP Semiconductors were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in NXP Semiconductors by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 115,992 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $26,641,000 after purchasing an additional 15,283 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its position in NXP Semiconductors by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 6,431 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after buying an additional 2,193 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in NXP Semiconductors in the 4th quarter worth about $1,869,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in NXP Semiconductors by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 5,571 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Conning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 58.1% in the 4th quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 1,733 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on NXPI shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on NXP Semiconductors in a report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised NXP Semiconductors from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded NXP Semiconductors from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.29.

NXP Semiconductors Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NXPI opened at $230.11 on Tuesday. NXP Semiconductors has a 12-month low of $155.31 and a 12-month high of $264.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $241.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $218.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The semiconductor provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.40 billion. NXP Semiconductors had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 21.07%. Research analysts anticipate that NXP Semiconductors will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NXP Semiconductors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $1.014 per share. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. NXP Semiconductors’s payout ratio is 37.91%.

NXP Semiconductors Profile

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.