Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Time to Sell?

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)’s share price fell 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $203.70 and last traded at $205.40. 3,162,589 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 15,045,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price 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 fifty day moving average of $195.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.09.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The semiconductor company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.20. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 39.10% and a return on equity of 27.44%. The business had revenue of $23.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.72 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 6.95 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, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.5484 per share. This is a positive change from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s payout ratio is 35.10%.

Institutional Trading of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,783,802 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 669.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,721,489 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $646,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,237,998 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 1,226.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $344,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,298 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 799.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,899,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $329,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $229,098,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.