Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) Trading Up 0.4% – Time to Buy?

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) traded up 0.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $158.59 and last traded at $157.70. 7,275,887 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 15,796,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on TSM. Barclays increased their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 2.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $805.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.93.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The semiconductor company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.08. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 40.51%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a $0.6855 dividend. This represents a $2.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s payout ratio is currently 30.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,365,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,047,065,000 after purchasing an additional 4,158,772 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,949,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,372,461,000 after buying an additional 2,931,209 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 58,547,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,562,498,000 after buying an additional 2,572,488 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the first quarter valued at approximately $362,773,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,498,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,678,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,074,329 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.51% of the company’s stock.

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.