ASE Technology Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ASX)

Key Points

• ASE Technology saw unusually heavy options activity, with 45,037 call options traded on Thursday — about 681% above its typical daily volume of 5,770 contracts.
• The stock fell 2.8% to $39.57 during Thursday trading, though the company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $0.20 versus estimates of $0.17 and revenue of $5.43 billion versus $5.32 billion expected.
• ASE Technology raised its annual dividend to $0.4171 per share from $0.36, while analysts currently maintain a consensus rating of Buy on the semiconductor firm.

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 45,037 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 681% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,770 call options.

ASE Technology Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE ASX traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,980,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,036,628. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.02. The stock has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.19 and a beta of 1.69. ASE Technology has a 12 month low of $9.30 and a 12 month high of $45.51.

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.32 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that ASE Technology will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ASE Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.4171 per share. This is a positive change from ASE Technology's previous annual dividend of $0.36. This represents a dividend yield of 96.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. ASE Technology's payout ratio is currently 45.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASE Technology

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASE Technology in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in ASE Technology by 180,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,810 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in ASE Technology by 135.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,438 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASE Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. acquired a new position in shares of ASE Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised ASE Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of ASE Technology in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ASE Technology from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy".

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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