Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Trading Up 7.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock surged 7.1% after DZ Bank upgraded it from a sell to a hold rating, with a new price target set at $165.00.
• Thirteen analysts rated AMD with a hold rating, while twenty-three have given it a buy rating, leading to an average rating of Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $178.56.
• Advanced Micro Devices announced a share buyback plan authorizing up to $6 billion in stock repurchases, indicating the board's belief that shares are currently undervalued.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD - Get Free Report) shares were up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after DZ Bank upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. DZ Bank now has a $165.00 price target on the stock. Advanced Micro Devices traded as high as $172.68 and last traded at $174.65. Approximately 40,215,779 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 45,605,699 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.12.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Advanced Micro Devices from $140.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Advanced Micro Devices in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded shares of Advanced Micro Devices from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Advanced Micro Devices to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded Advanced Micro Devices from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark D. Papermaster sold 17,998 shares of Advanced Micro Devices stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total transaction of $2,790,229.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 1,713,710 shares in the company, valued at $265,676,461.30. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Advanced Micro Devices

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cornerstone Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 2.6% in the second quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,857 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in Advanced Micro Devices by 49.3% during the second quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 218 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. boosted its position in Advanced Micro Devices by 0.7% during the second quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 10,465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its position in Advanced Micro Devices by 1.4% during the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $776,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 71.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Advanced Micro Devices Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $280.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.06). Advanced Micro Devices had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $7.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. The company's revenue was up 31.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Micro Devices declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 14th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc operates as a semiconductor company worldwide. It operates through Data Center, Client, Gaming, and Embedded segments. The company offers x86 microprocessors and graphics processing units (GPUs) as an accelerated processing unit, chipsets, data center, and professional GPUs; and embedded processors, and semi-custom system-on-chip (SoC) products, microprocessor and SoC development services and technology, data processing unites, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and adaptive SoC products.