Brokerages Set Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Price Target at $22.26

Shares of Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.26.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com raised Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. HSBC upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Daqo New Energy in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th.

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 142.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,617,000 after acquiring an additional 409,057 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Daqo New Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,000. Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,788,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Daqo New Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,647,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Daqo New Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,457,000. 47.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

Shares of DQ stock opened at $18.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.44. Daqo New Energy has a 1-year low of $13.62 and a 1-year high of $31.19. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.30.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($1.25). The company had revenue of $219.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.50 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative net margin of 4.11% and a negative return on equity of 1.04%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Daqo New Energy will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, July 22nd that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Daqo New Energy

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.