ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 8,695,212 shares, a growth of 23.2% from the December 15th total of 7,055,543 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,713,605 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,713,605 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASE Technology

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in ASE Technology by 9.6% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,661,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $107,146,000 after acquiring an additional 846,300 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ASE Technology by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 7,392,190 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $76,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491,918 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of ASE Technology by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 7,258,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,012,970 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in ASE Technology by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,775,272 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $50,591,000 after purchasing an additional 780,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ASE Technology by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,618,822 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $62,313,000 after purchasing an additional 38,646 shares during the period. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ASE Technology Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:ASX opened at $19.42 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.91. ASE Technology has a one year low of $6.94 and a one year high of $19.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.07 billion, a PE ratio of 38.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.45.

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.03. ASE Technology had a return on equity of 10.67% and a net margin of 5.61%. On average, equities analysts forecast that ASE Technology will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ASX shares. Zacks Research cut shares of ASE Technology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Wall Street Zen cut ASE Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ASE Technology in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Nomura Securities raised ASE Technology to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Nomura raised ASE Technology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ASE Technology Company Profile

ASE Technology Holding Co, Ltd. (NYSE: ASX), commonly referred to as ASE, is a Taiwan-based provider of semiconductor assembly and testing services. The company focuses on back-end semiconductor manufacturing and related services that prepare integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices for final use. Its core activities include advanced IC packaging, final testing, wafer probing, and related engineering and supply-chain support for semiconductor customers.

ASE offers a range of products and technical capabilities designed to meet increasingly complex packaging and system-in-package requirements.