Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) Shares Gap Up to $16.33

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $16.33, but opened at $17.55. Daqo New Energy shares last traded at $17.50, with a volume of 145,466 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on DQ. HSBC upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Daqo New Energy from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Nomura Securities raised Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $15.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25 and a beta of 0.30.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($1.25). The firm had revenue of $219.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.50 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 4.11%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Analysts forecast that Daqo New Energy Corp. will post -3.35 EPS for the current year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, July 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Daqo New Energy by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,348 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 219,204 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,826,000 after purchasing an additional 65,772 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 121.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 22,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 12,273 shares during the last quarter. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC now owns 18,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franchise Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,788,000. 47.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Daqo New Energy

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.