Marvell Technology Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MRVL)

Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 85,063 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 14% compared to the average daily volume of 74,825 call options.

Marvell Technology Price Performance

Shares of MRVL opened at $70.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.96, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Marvell Technology has a 12 month low of $36.90 and a 12 month high of $85.76.

Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Marvell Technology had a positive return on equity of 4.96% and a negative net margin of 16.95%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Marvell Technology will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Marvell Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 7th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 4.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Marvell Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Marvell Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.22%.

Insider Activity at Marvell Technology

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Murphy sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.59, for a total transaction of $1,967,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 792,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,008,213.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Chris Koopmans sold 5,000 shares of Marvell Technology stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $326,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 124,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,099,875.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Murphy sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.59, for a total transaction of $1,967,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 792,929 shares in the company, valued at $52,008,213.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 108,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,188,790 in the last three months. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marvell Technology by 0.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 129,418,936 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,005,447,000 after buying an additional 421,622 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marvell Technology by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,342,362 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,362,968,000 after buying an additional 1,890,753 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Marvell Technology by 118,898.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 62,452,538 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,313,242,000 after buying an additional 62,400,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Marvell Technology by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,791,266 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,158,601,000 after buying an additional 185,479 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Marvell Technology by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,272,190 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $936,082,000 after buying an additional 1,603,857 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Marvell Technology in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Marvell Technology in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Marvell Technology from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Marvell Technology in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Marvell Technology in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.96.

About Marvell Technology

Marvell Technology, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, spanning the data center core to network edge. The company develops and scales complex System-on-a-Chip architectures, integrating analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing functionality.