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

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 36,350,000 shares, an increase of 14.8% from the January 15th total of 31,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 14,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 58,547,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,562,498,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572,488 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 41,877,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,270,379,000 after purchasing an additional 231,310 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,602,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,031,632,000 after purchasing an additional 294,316 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 1.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,767,106 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,995,984,000 after purchasing an additional 359,854 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,210,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,391,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,256 shares during the period. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays increased their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price Performance

NYSE TSM traded up $1.94 on Monday, hitting $203.77. 23,189,167 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,992,380. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $205.26 and a 200-day moving average of $189.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a 52 week low of $122.91 and a 52 week high of $226.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.06.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The semiconductor company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.08. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 40.51%. Analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post 9.12 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, July 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.35%. This is a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.27%.

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.