National Pension Service Raises Stock Holdings in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) by 5.8%, owning approximately 3.3 million shares valued at about $341 million.
• AMD's recent earnings report showed a missed EPS estimate of $0.48 compared to the expected $0.54, although revenue rose by 31.7% year-over-year to $7.69 billion.
• The company announced a $6 billion stock repurchase plan, indicating the board's belief that the stock may be undervalued.

National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD - Free Report) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,322,320 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 180,761 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.20% of Advanced Micro Devices worth $341,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 443.3% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 5,467,956 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $660,475,000 after buying an additional 4,461,609 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 264,574 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $31,958,000 after buying an additional 29,825 shares in the last quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. now owns 76,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $7,893,000 after buying an additional 2,944 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,728 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Micro Devices by 178.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 45,956 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,551,000 after buying an additional 29,438 shares in the last quarter. 71.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMD shares. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Advanced Micro Devices from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Advanced Micro Devices from $100.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Advanced Micro Devices from $135.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Melius Research raised Advanced Micro Devices from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Advanced Micro Devices from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $179.21.

Advanced Micro Devices Stock Up 5.4%

Advanced Micro Devices stock traded up $9.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $184.42. The company had a trading volume of 108,009,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 67,074,880. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $148.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.36. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.48 and a 12 month high of $186.65. The company has a market capitalization of $299.28 billion, a PE ratio of 105.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.94.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $7.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Micro Devices announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 14th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Advanced Micro Devices

In other news, EVP Mark D. Papermaster sold 17,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was 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 owned 1,713,710 shares in the company, valued at $265,676,461.30. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Paul Darren Grasby sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.21, for a total value of $1,732,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 125,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,738,721.05. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.