Short Interest in Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Increases By 11.3%

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, a growth of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 3,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 6.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Daiwa America raised shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. HSBC upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.26.

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,104 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Daqo New Energy by 6.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 170,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,000 after purchasing an additional 10,942 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Daqo New Energy by 47.9% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 20,473 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 6,628 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake 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 period. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 202.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Daqo New Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of DQ traded up $0.13 on Monday, hitting $19.01. 758,443 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,415. Daqo New Energy has a 1 year low of $13.62 and a 1 year high of $30.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.28 and a beta of 0.26.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.80) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $198.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.90 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.90% and a negative net margin of 9.16%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Daqo New Energy will post -3.5 EPS for the current year.

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.