Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $202.20, but opened at $215.02. Tower Semiconductor shares last traded at $212.7350, with a volume of 415,438 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSEM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $270.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays upgraded Tower Semiconductor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Tower Semiconductor from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.67.

Tower Semiconductor Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $226.48 and its 200 day moving average is $219.39. The stock has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.43 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.91 and a quick ratio of 4.31.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $460.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $454.68 million. Tower Semiconductor had a return on equity of 9.83% and a net margin of 16.94%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Russell Ellwanger sold 104,226 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 526,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,822,531.92. This represents a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Yoav Chelouche sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.06, for a total value of $49,893.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,254,834.04. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 181,767 shares of company stock worth $45,610,065. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tower Semiconductor

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Tower Semiconductor by 86.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 414,850 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $70,625,000 after acquiring an additional 191,839 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the first quarter valued at about $754,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the second quarter valued at about $3,491,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 4.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 118,406 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,378,000 after purchasing an additional 4,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 1,175.6% in the first quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 340,108 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,025,000 after purchasing an additional 313,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.51% of the company’s stock.

About Tower Semiconductor

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) is a specialty semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits for fabless chip companies, integrated device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers. The company focuses on analog and mixed-signal technologies rather than high-volume digital logic, providing process development, wafer manufacturing, design enablement and other foundry services.

Its technology portfolio includes radio-frequency and high-performance analog circuits, power management, CMOS image sensors, medical and industrial sensors, silicon photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and automotive and industrial semiconductor solutions.