Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) Shares Sold by Smith Moore & CO.

Smith Moore & CO. lowered its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,686 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 83 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,392,159 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,829,757,000 after buying an additional 1,102,166 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,498,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,678,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,074,329 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,544,227,000 after acquiring an additional 777,090 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,949,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,372,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,931,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,742,256 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,793 shares in the last quarter. 16.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TSM shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE:TSM opened at $146.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.09. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a 1-year low of $125.78 and a 1-year high of $226.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 2.30. The stock has a market cap of $761.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.16.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last issued its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be given a $0.6855 dividend. This represents a $2.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. 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. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.68%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 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 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.