Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) Short Interest Update

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,450,000 shares, a decrease of 15.5% from the November 30th total of 30,130,000 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 13,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 3.6% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,909 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,244,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,196,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,695 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the second quarter valued at approximately $922,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 10.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 309,672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 29,687 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Susquehanna restated a “buy” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Down 0.7 %

TSM stock traded down $1.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $201.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,393,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,047,161. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $195.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a 12 month low of $98.80 and a 12 month high of $212.60.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The semiconductor company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $23.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.72 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 27.44% and a net margin of 39.10%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.5484 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. This is a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s dividend payout ratio is 35.10%.

About Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

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.