Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) Trading 5.1% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM)’s stock price was up 5.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $207.45 and last traded at $205.0350. 181,588 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 2,235,901 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on TSEM shares. National Bank Financial raised shares of Tower Semiconductor to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a report on Friday, August 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $367.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised Tower Semiconductor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tower Semiconductor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $290.67.

Tower Semiconductor Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 4.91. The stock has a market cap of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 80.52 and a beta of 0.88.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $460.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.68 million. Tower Semiconductor had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 16.94%.The company’s revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Analysts expect that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tower Semiconductor

In other news, CEO Russell Ellwanger sold 104,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.34, for a total transaction of $25,883,484.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,822,531.92. This trade represents a 16.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yoav Chelouche sold 232 shares of Tower Semiconductor stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.06, for a total value of $49,893.92. Following the sale, the director owned 33,734 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,834.04. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 181,767 shares of company stock worth $45,610,065. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tower Semiconductor

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSEM. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Tower Semiconductor during the 4th quarter valued at about $222,530,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 214.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,206,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,083,000 after buying an additional 1,505,421 shares in the last quarter. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the fourth quarter worth about $172,848,000. E20 Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the first quarter valued at approximately $107,708,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Tower Semiconductor during the first quarter valued at approximately $85,435,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.51% of the company’s stock.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) is a specialty semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for fabless chip companies, integrated device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers. The company focuses on analog and mixed-signal technologies rather than high-volume digital logic, providing process development, wafer manufacturing, design enablement and other foundry services.

Its technology portfolio includes radio-frequency and high-performance analog circuits, power management, CMOS image sensors, medical and industrial sensors, silicon photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and automotive and industrial semiconductor solutions.