Nicholas Investment Partners LP Acquires 714 Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,644 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $4,472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,365,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,047,065,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158,772 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,949,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,372,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,931,209 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 58,547,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,562,498,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572,488 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,498,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,678,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,074,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 45.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,244,965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,233,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of TSM opened at $194.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.21. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a 12-month low of $133.57 and a 12-month high of $226.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The semiconductor company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.09. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a net margin of 40.51% and a return on equity of 30.47%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $834.10 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.6855 per share. This represents a $2.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s payout ratio is currently 27.76%.

About Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides a range of wafer fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture complementary metal- oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, embedded memory, bipolar CMOS mixed-signal, and others.