Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Upgraded to "Hold" at DZ Bank

Key Points

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was upgraded by DZ Bank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating, with a price target of $165.00, indicating a potential 1.15% upside from the current price.
• Thirteen analysts rated AMD as a hold, while twenty-three gave it a buy rating and four designated it a strong buy, leading to a consensus price target of $178.56.
• A stock repurchase plan allowing AMD to buy back $6.00 billion in shares was initiated, signaling the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at DZ Bank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $165.00 price objective on the semiconductor manufacturer's stock. DZ Bank's target price points to a potential downside of 4.49% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AMD. Dbs Bank cut Advanced Micro Devices from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Advanced Micro Devices from $150.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Advanced Micro Devices in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Advanced Micro Devices from $152.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Advanced Micro Devices in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.56.

Advanced Micro Devices Stock Performance

AMD stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting $172.76. The company had a trading volume of 68,723,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,889,100. The firm has a market cap of $280.36 billion, a PE ratio of 99.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.94. Advanced Micro Devices has a 1-year low of $76.48 and a 1-year high of $182.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $144.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.06). Advanced Micro Devices had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 7.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Advanced Micro Devices will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Advanced Micro Devices declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark D. Papermaster sold 17,998 shares of Advanced Micro Devices stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total value of $2,790,229.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,713,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,676,461.30. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 81.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. now owns 190 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Greenline Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Advanced Micro Devices during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 277.8% during the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 272 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 90.3% in the first quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 274 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 67.6% in the first quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.34% of the company's stock.

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.