Granite Investment Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM)

Granite Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ:TSEM) by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 566,613 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 70,343 shares during the period. Tower Semiconductor comprises about 0.9% of Granite Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Tower Semiconductor were worth $22,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Tower Semiconductor by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,615 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor during the fourth quarter valued at about $71,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor during the first quarter valued at about $164,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor during the second quarter valued at about $177,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tower Semiconductor during the first quarter valued at about $243,000. 70.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on TSEM. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tower Semiconductor from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Tower Semiconductor in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Tower Semiconductor has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.33.

Tower Semiconductor Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSEM opened at $41.62 on Friday. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has a 12 month low of $21.43 and a 12 month high of $44.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.29. The company has a quick ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 5.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TSEM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.05. Tower Semiconductor had a net margin of 35.58% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The firm had revenue of $351.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tower Semiconductor Ltd. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Tower Semiconductor 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.