Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

TSEM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Tower Semiconductor to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Tower Semiconductor from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Tower Semiconductor from $180.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.80.

Tower Semiconductor Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of TSEM stock opened at $223.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.16 billion, a PE ratio of 88.45 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 4.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $244.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.71. Tower Semiconductor has a fifty-two week low of $48.90 and a fifty-two week high of $319.94.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.12. Tower Semiconductor had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 9.83%. The company had revenue of $460.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Tower Semiconductor will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tower Semiconductor

In other Tower Semiconductor news, CEO Russell Craig Ellwanger sold 104,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.34, for a total transaction of $25,883,484.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 526,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,822,531.92. This trade represents a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tower Semiconductor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Tower Semiconductor by 3,222.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,682,152 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $549,779,000 after buying an additional 4,541,235 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,338,080 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $507,317,000 after buying an additional 53,112 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 214.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,206,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505,421 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,108,004 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $152,409,000 after acquiring an additional 15,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the fourth quarter worth about $222,530,000. Institutional investors own 70.51% of the company’s stock.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

Tower Semiconductor, traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TSEM, is a specialty foundry company that provides analog and mixed-signal semiconductor manufacturing services to a broad array of customers worldwide. The company focuses on delivering tailored process technologies for high-growth markets, including radio frequency (RF), power management, imaging, automotive electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. By combining deep process know-how with flexible manufacturing capabilities, Tower Semiconductor supports the development and volume production of advanced semiconductor devices for fabless and integrated device manufacturer customers.

The company’s technology portfolio spans standard and specialty processes such as CMOS, BiCMOS, high-voltage, radio frequency, silicon photonics, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and image sensor production.