Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Short Interest Update

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,860,000 shares, an increase of 9.3% from the March 15th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Daiwa Capital Markets reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Daqo New Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.23.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

Shares of DQ traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $23.36. 552,948 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,012,070. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.13. Daqo New Energy has a one year low of $17.30 and a one year high of $48.31.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $477.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $529.40 million. Daqo New Energy had a return on equity of 6.42% and a net margin of 18.24%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Daqo New Energy will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DQ. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Daqo New Energy by 137.6% during the first quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 34,476 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Daqo New Energy by 67.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 161,748 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,684,000 after purchasing an additional 65,361 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Daqo New Energy by 8.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 33,487 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Daqo New Energy by 89.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,981 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Daqo New Energy during the first quarter valued at about $324,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

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.