Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 68.8% in September

Posted by Brian Himes on Oct 16th, 2026

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,567,523 shares, a growth of 68.8% from the September 15th total of 2,705,350 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,351,813 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Tower Semiconductor Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSEM opened at $209.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a PE ratio of 82.93 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Tower Semiconductor has a 12-month low of $71.64 and a 12-month high of $319.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $226.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.48.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Tower Semiconductor will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. National Bank Financial raised Tower Semiconductor to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $270.00 price target for the company. Barclays began coverage on Tower Semiconductor in a research note on Friday, September 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $310.00 price target for the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Friday, August 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $367.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.00.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Tower Semiconductor

Insider Buying and Selling at Tower Semiconductor

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 526,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,822,531.92. This trade represents a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yoav Chelouche sold 232 shares of Tower Semiconductor stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.06, for a total value of $49,893.92. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,254,834.04. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tower Semiconductor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position 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 period. E20 Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Tower Semiconductor during the first quarter valued at $107,708,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor in the 1st quarter valued at $85,435,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 86.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.51% of the company’s stock.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.