Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) Trading Up 9.1%

Shares of Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) were up 9.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $18.80 and last traded at $18.53. Approximately 330,839 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,024,067 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.98.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DQ shares. HSBC raised Daqo New Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Daqo New Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Nomura Securities raised Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com raised Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Daqo New Energy from $23.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Up 7.0 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.98 and a 200 day moving average of $19.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.30.

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

Daqo New Energy declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, July 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 8.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 142.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,617,000 after acquiring an additional 409,057 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,000. Franchise Capital Ltd bought a new position in Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,788,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Daqo New Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $9,647,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Daqo New Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $3,457,000. Institutional investors 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.