Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) Trading Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)’s share price was down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $203.01 and last traded at $205.11. Approximately 2,956,205 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 17,445,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $208.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $205.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.45. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.06.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The semiconductor company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 55,974,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,721,138,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783,802 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,995,984,000 after purchasing an additional 359,854 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,392,159 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,829,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,166 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 14.1% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 9,738,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,733,104,000 after buying an additional 1,206,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,819,269 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,544,227,000 after buying an additional 777,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.51% of the company’s stock.

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.