Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) Shares Down 8.6% - Here's What Happened

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 8.6% during trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $228.60 and last traded at $227.0170. Approximately 781,578 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 2,240,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSEM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho started coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a report on Friday, September 25th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $300.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $270.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Tower Semiconductor from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Friday, September 18th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $310.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $316.00.

Tower Semiconductor Price Performance

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 has a market cap of $25.43 billion, a PE ratio of 88.91 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.62.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $460.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $454.68 million. Tower Semiconductor had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 16.94%.Tower Semiconductor's revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tower Semiconductor

In other news, Director Yoav Chelouche sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.06, for a total transaction of $49,893.92. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,734 shares in the company, valued at $7,254,834.04. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell Ellwanger sold 104,226 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,788 shares in the company, valued at $130,822,531.92. The trade was a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 181,767 shares of company stock valued at $45,610,065. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tower Semiconductor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd acquired a new stake in Tower Semiconductor during the fourth quarter worth about $172,848,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,081,175 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $189,723,000 after buying an additional 6,458 shares during the period. E20 Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Tower Semiconductor during the 1st quarter valued at about $107,708,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Tower Semiconductor during the 1st quarter worth $85,435,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 86.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 414,850 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $70,625,000 after purchasing an additional 191,839 shares during the last quarter. 70.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israel-based specialty semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for fabless semiconductor companies, integrated device manufacturers and other technology companies. Rather than selling products under a broad consumer brand, Tower provides wafer fabrication, process technology and manufacturing services tailored to customers' chip designs.

The company specializes in analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, radio-frequency components, power-management devices, CMOS image sensors and other specialty technologies.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.