ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Key Points

• ASE Technology shares gapped up at the open, rising from a prior close of $36.90 to an opening price of $39.57, reflecting a strong premarket move.
• Analyst sentiment has turned more positive, with recent upgrades from Wall Street Zen and Zacks Research helping push the stock to a consensus “Buy” rating.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and recently raised its annual dividend to $0.4171 from $0.36, reinforcing investor interest.

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $36.90, but opened at $39.57. ASE Technology shares last traded at $39.4740, with a volume of 1,048,395 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ASX. Weiss Ratings restated 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 report on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ASE Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy".

ASE Technology Stock Performance

The business's fifty day moving average price is $38.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.11 and a beta of 1.69.

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. ASE Technology had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 13.48%. The firm had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.32 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

ASE Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a dividend yield of 96.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. This is a positive change from ASE Technology's previous annual dividend of $0.36. ASE Technology's dividend payout ratio is 45.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASE Technology in the 2nd quarter worth about $370,000. Nolet Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ASE Technology during the 2nd quarter worth about $332,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ASE Technology by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,647 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in ASE Technology by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 17,206 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in ASE Technology by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 11,274 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,937 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 6.80% of the company's stock.

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.

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