Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in Tower Semiconductor Ltd. $TSEM

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,010 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Tower Semiconductor by 0.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,081,175 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $189,723,000 after acquiring an additional 6,458 shares during the last quarter. E20 Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Tower Semiconductor during the first quarter worth about $107,708,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Tower Semiconductor by 86.0% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 414,850 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $70,625,000 after purchasing an additional 191,839 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 1,175.6% in the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 340,108 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,025,000 after purchasing an additional 313,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 274,749 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,213,000 after purchasing an additional 24,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on TSEM. Bank of America assumed coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Friday, August 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $367.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Tower Semiconductor from $355.00 to $305.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. National Bank Financial upgraded Tower Semiconductor to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Tower Semiconductor from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a report on Friday, September 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $310.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tower Semiconductor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.12.

Insider Activity at Tower Semiconductor

In other Tower Semiconductor news, Director Yoav Chelouche sold 232 shares of Tower Semiconductor stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Ellwanger sold 104,226 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.34, for a total value of $25,883,484.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,822,531.92. This trade represents a 16.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 181,767 shares of company stock worth $45,610,065. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Tower Semiconductor Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSEM opened at $137.34 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $205.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.75. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has a 12-month low of $80.63 and a 12-month high of $319.94. The firm has a market cap of $15.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.02). Tower Semiconductor had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $526.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $521.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israel-based specialty semiconductor foundry that manufactures chips for companies that design and market their own products. Its services include wafer fabrication, process development and engineering support, helping customers bring semiconductor designs from development into production.

The company focuses on analog and mixed-signal technologies used in areas such as radio-frequency communications, power management, image sensing, automotive electronics and silicon photonics.