Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) Upgraded by Daiwa America to Hold

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) was upgraded by Daiwa America to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets reissued a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Daqo New Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Daqo New Energy from $23.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Performance

DQ opened at $20.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.95 and a 200-day moving average of $19.04. Daqo New Energy has a 52-week low of $13.62 and a 52-week high of $30.03.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($1.25). The company had revenue of $219.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.50 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 4.11%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Daqo New Energy will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, July 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 142.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,617,000 after purchasing an additional 409,057 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Daqo New Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $471,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $3,457,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $9,647,000. Finally, Sylebra Capital LLC increased its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 103.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,778,000 after purchasing an additional 480,980 shares in the last quarter. 47.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.