Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $145.00 to $150.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Approximately 5,552,957 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the previous session’s volume of 15,575,888 shares.The stock last traded at $128.99 and had previously closed at $132.27.

A number of other research firms have also commented on TSM. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.00.

Institutional Trading of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 44,527,327 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,842,000 after buying an additional 1,501,548 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,356,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,301,178,000 after buying an additional 4,240,928 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,513,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,421,936,000 after buying an additional 7,045,899 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 31,079,682 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,232,287,000 after purchasing an additional 442,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,443,595 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,958,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649,279 shares in the last quarter. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $664.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.74.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The semiconductor company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $19.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.99 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 38.80% and a return on equity of 25.24%. As a group, research analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.4408 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s payout ratio is currently 33.20%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Profile

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides complementary metal oxide silicon wafer fabrication processes to manufacture logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, and embedded memory semiconductors.