Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 8,551 Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM - Free Report) by 78.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,488 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,551 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $3,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Baxter Bros Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 257.3% during the first quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 3,730 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $619,000 after acquiring an additional 2,686 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 20.6% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,132 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 21.4% during the first quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 3,229 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 5.4% during the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,457 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the first quarter worth $362,773,000. 16.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on TSM. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $217.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of TSM stock traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $203.34. 11,415,981 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,807,534. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $172.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.21. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a 12 month low of $133.57 and a 12 month high of $226.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $834.10 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 40.51% and a return on equity of 30.47%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.6499 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.46%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company 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.