Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $158.58, but opened at $168.92. Tower Semiconductor shares last traded at $168.3770, with a volume of 686,859 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSEM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a report on Monday, December 29th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Tower Semiconductor from $165.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Tower Semiconductor from $114.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Tower Semiconductor from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tower Semiconductor has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.00.

Tower Semiconductor Trading Up 6.6%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $138.17 and a 200-day moving average of $111.72. The company has a market capitalization of $21.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.93 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 6.48, a quick ratio of 5.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.11. Tower Semiconductor had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 7.86%. The company had revenue of $440.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Tower Semiconductor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSEM. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 3,222.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,682,152 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $549,779,000 after buying an additional 4,541,235 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,080 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $507,317,000 after acquiring an additional 53,112 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 3,002,806 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $352,589,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 18.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,331,831 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $168,591,000 after acquiring an additional 369,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 1.2% in the third quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 2,268,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $162,870,000 after acquiring an additional 25,989 shares in the last quarter. 70.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Tower Semiconductor

Tower Semiconductor, traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TSEM, is a specialty foundry company that provides analog and mixed-signal semiconductor manufacturing services to a broad array of customers worldwide. The company focuses on delivering tailored process technologies for high-growth markets, including radio frequency (RF), power management, imaging, automotive electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. By combining deep process know-how with flexible manufacturing capabilities, Tower Semiconductor supports the development and volume production of advanced semiconductor devices for fabless and integrated device manufacturer customers.

The company’s technology portfolio spans standard and specialty processes such as CMOS, BiCMOS, high-voltage, radio frequency, silicon photonics, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and image sensor production.