Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI)

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 16,013 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 253% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,533 call options.

Insider Activity at NXP Semiconductors

In other news, EVP Andrew Micallef sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.57, for a total transaction of $315,570.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,821,826.94. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NXP Semiconductors

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NXPI. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in NXP Semiconductors by 29,659.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 106,611,541 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $29,961,041,000 after purchasing an additional 106,253,301 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NXP Semiconductors in the second quarter worth about $6,716,412,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,043,159 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock worth $2,407,382,000 after buying an additional 55,098 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of NXP Semiconductors in the second quarter valued at about $21,099,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of NXP Semiconductors by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,574,672 shares of the semiconductor provider’s stock valued at $1,210,038,000 after buying an additional 818,985 shares during the period. 90.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NXP Semiconductors Price Performance

NXPI stock traded down $0.64 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $223.23. The stock had a trading volume of 2,076,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,546,568. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $56.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $248.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.64. NXP Semiconductors has a 1-year low of $183.00 and a 1-year high of $339.95.

NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. NXP Semiconductors had a net margin of 22.56% and a return on equity of 27.83%. NXP Semiconductors’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NXP Semiconductors will post 13.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NXP Semiconductors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a $1.014 dividend. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. NXP Semiconductors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on NXPI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $282.00 target price on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NXP Semiconductors from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on NXP Semiconductors from $290.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $270.00 price target (down from $305.00) on shares of NXP Semiconductors in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.65.

NXP Semiconductors Company Profile

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) is a global semiconductor company headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company develops and sells high-performance mixed-signal and standard semiconductor products used in automotive, industrial, communications infrastructure, mobile, and consumer applications.

Its product portfolio includes microcontrollers and application processors, automotive networking and radar solutions, connectivity chips, analog and interface devices, radio-frequency power products, and security technologies.