Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) Stock Price Up 6.8%

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) rose 6.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $22.42 and last traded at $22.11. Approximately 1,066,433 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 1,033,985 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Daqo New Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. HSBC upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Nomura Securities upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Up 5.9 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.21 and a 200-day moving average of $19.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.30.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last released its quarterly 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 last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Daqo New Energy Corp. will post -3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,080,000. Sylebra Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 103.9% in the second quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,778,000 after acquiring an additional 480,980 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 6.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,496,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,456,000 after acquiring an additional 149,610 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 202.3% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 6,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 4,274 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Daqo New Energy by 112.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 322,635 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,710,000 after purchasing an additional 170,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

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.