Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $168.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 20.79% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on TSM. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price Performance

TSM opened at $139.08 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.61. The firm has a market cap of $721.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.15. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a twelve month low of $81.21 and a twelve month high of $158.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The semiconductor company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $19.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.99 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 38.80% and a return on equity of 25.24%. Equities research analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 44,527,327 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501,548 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,356,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,301,178,000 after buying an additional 4,240,928 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,513,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,421,936,000 after acquiring an additional 7,045,899 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 31,079,682 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,232,287,000 after acquiring an additional 442,289 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,443,595 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,958,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649,279 shares during the period. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 complementary metal oxide silicon wafer fabrication processes to manufacture logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, and embedded memory semiconductors.