Short Interest in ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX) Drops By 47.5%

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 9,531,995 shares, a decline of 47.5% from the June 30th total of 18,168,448 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,656,407 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ASE Technology in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen raised ASE Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ASE Technology from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ASE Technology Stock Down 6.8%

Shares of ASX stock traded down $2.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $31.63. 13,655,234 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,097,878. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.38. ASE Technology has a 12-month low of $9.30 and a 12-month high of $45.51. The stock has a market cap of $70.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.52 and a beta of 1.69.

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. ASE Technology had a return on equity of 13.48% and a net margin of 7.03%.The firm had revenue of $5.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.32 billion. On average, analysts expect that ASE Technology will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

ASE Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th will be paid a $0.4171 dividend. This is an increase from ASE Technology’s previous annual dividend of $0.36. This represents a dividend yield of 96.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 6th. ASE Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.59%.

Institutional Trading of ASE Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ASE Technology by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 20,010,829 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $322,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997,888 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in ASE Technology by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,607,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $170,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330,580 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of ASE Technology by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,661,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $107,146,000 after purchasing an additional 846,300 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in ASE Technology by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 9,038,322 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $145,517,000 after buying an additional 922,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ASE Technology by 50.9% in the second quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 7,392,190 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $76,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,918 shares in the last quarter. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ASE Technology

ASE Technology Holding Co, Ltd. (NYSE: ASX), commonly referred to as ASE, is a Taiwan-based provider of semiconductor assembly and testing services. The company focuses on back-end semiconductor manufacturing and related services that prepare integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices for final use. Its core activities include advanced IC packaging, final testing, wafer probing, and related engineering and supply-chain support for semiconductor customers.

ASE offers a range of products and technical capabilities designed to meet increasingly complex packaging and system-in-package requirements.