Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Tower Semiconductor Put Options (NASDAQ:TSEM)

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 12,608 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 331% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,922 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSEM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Tower Semiconductor from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Craig Hallum upped their target price on Tower Semiconductor from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Tower Semiconductor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.33.

Tower Semiconductor Price Performance

Shares of Tower Semiconductor stock opened at $51.02 on Friday. Tower Semiconductor has a one year low of $28.02 and a one year high of $54.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.58 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.89 and a current ratio of 5.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.89.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $370.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $370.30 million. Tower Semiconductor had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 14.75%. Tower Semiconductor’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Tower Semiconductor will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Tower Semiconductor

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Tower Semiconductor by 203.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,105,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $137,444,000 after buying an additional 2,083,262 shares during the last quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Tower Semiconductor by 1,146.9% in the third quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 1,496,315 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376,315 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in Tower Semiconductor by 9,622.0% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 911,926 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,952,000 after buying an additional 902,546 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 25.6% during the second quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 2,431,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $95,686,000 after purchasing an additional 495,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scopia Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Tower Semiconductor in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,926,000. 70.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tower Semiconductor Company Profile

Tower Semiconductor Ltd., an independent semiconductor foundry, focus on specialty process technologies to manufacture analog intensive mixed-signal semiconductor devices in Israel, the United States, Japan, Europe, and internationally. It provides various customizable process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, mixed signal/CMOS, RF CMOS, CMOS image sensor, integrated power management, and MEMS.