Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) Stock Price Down 2.4% – Time to Sell?

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) shares dropped 2.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $199.23 and last traded at $201.33. Approximately 7,189,960 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 17,238,229 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSM. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Susquehanna restated a “buy” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $205.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.98.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The semiconductor company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.08. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 40.51% and a return on equity of 30.47%. As a group, research analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.12 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.6855 per share. This is a positive change from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $2.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSM. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,365,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,047,065,000 after buying an additional 4,158,772 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 55,974,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,721,138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783,802 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 72.9% in 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,498,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,678,283,000 after buying an additional 2,074,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 45.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,244,965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,233,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,328 shares during the period. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.