Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Stake in STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in shares of STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,194 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after selling 1,038 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in STMicroelectronics were worth $1,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in STMicroelectronics by 55.3% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,800,911 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $250,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,387 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of STMicroelectronics by 1,564,831.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,079,803 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $46,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079,734 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in STMicroelectronics by 337.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 510,834 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $25,561,000 after acquiring an additional 394,147 shares during the last quarter. Delta Global Management LP raised its stake in STMicroelectronics by 31.3% during the first quarter. Delta Global Management LP now owns 1,047,650 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $45,300,000 after purchasing an additional 249,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of STMicroelectronics by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,058,401 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $153,593,000 after acquiring an additional 172,399 shares during the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

STMicroelectronics Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:STM opened at $27.85 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.12. STMicroelectronics has a 12 month low of $27.44 and a 12 month high of $51.27. The company has a market capitalization of $25.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.58.

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.04. STMicroelectronics had a return on equity of 18.18% and a net margin of 19.68%. The business had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that STMicroelectronics will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

STMicroelectronics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. STMicroelectronics’s payout ratio is currently 7.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STM. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of STMicroelectronics from $54.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Craig Hallum lowered their target price on STMicroelectronics from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of STMicroelectronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of STMicroelectronics from $50.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of STMicroelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.50 to $45.80 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.13.

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics N.V., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through Automotive and Discrete Group; Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group; and Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group segments.