Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX)

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE:ASX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 53,259 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 683% compared to the average daily volume of 6,804 call options.

ASE Technology Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:ASX traded up $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.76. 2,779,023 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,633,018. ASE Technology has a 52 week low of $10.93 and a 52 week high of $45.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $91.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.42 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.71.

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $81.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.96 billion. ASE Technology had a return on equity of 16.12% and a net margin of 8.52%. As a group, research analysts forecast that ASE Technology will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ASE Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in ASE Technology during the 2nd quarter worth about $289,000. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ASE Technology in the second quarter valued at about $249,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of ASE Technology during the second quarter worth about $317,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of ASE Technology by 107.7% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 947 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of ASE Technology during the second quarter worth about $14,247,000. Institutional investors own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ASE Technology from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of ASE Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ASE Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

About ASE Technology

ASE Technology Holding Co, Ltd. is a Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturing services company. Through its subsidiaries, including Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc and Siliconware Precision Industries Co, Ltd., the company provides outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) services for chipmakers and electronics companies.

Its services include semiconductor packaging, wafer probing, final testing, electronic manufacturing services, and related materials and engineering solutions.