Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 218,872 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 65% compared to the average daily volume of 133,014 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TSM shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price Performance

NYSE:TSM traded up $4.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $198.89. 10,751,002 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,250,080. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a current ratio of 2.57. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a 1 year low of $95.25 and a 1 year high of $212.60. The company has a market cap of $1.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.09.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The semiconductor company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $23.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.72 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 39.10% and a return on equity of 27.44%. Sell-side analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post 6.95 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.5484 dividend. This is a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 116.3% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,784,316 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,352,992,000 after buying an additional 4,186,133 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 7.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 55,974,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,721,138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783,802 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 669.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,721,489 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $646,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,237,998 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 1,226.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $344,809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 799.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,899,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $329,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687,886 shares in the last quarter. 16.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 a range of wafer fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture complementary metal- oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, embedded memory, bipolar CMOS mixed-signal, and others.