Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) Short Interest Update

Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) saw a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a drop of 12.2% from the December 15th total of 6,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,520,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Himax Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Himax Technologies by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 222,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 38,457 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Himax Technologies by 67.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 267,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after buying an additional 107,300 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Himax Technologies by 115.6% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 64,926 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 34,812 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Himax Technologies by 854.5% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 113,244 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 101,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Himax Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,817,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.81% of the company’s stock.

Himax Technologies Price Performance

Shares of HIMX stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,204,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,914,119. The company has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Himax Technologies has a 12-month low of $4.80 and a 12-month high of $9.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.45.

Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.03. Himax Technologies had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 9.06%. The firm had revenue of $222.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.93 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Himax Technologies announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Himax Technologies from $7.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

About Himax Technologies

Himax Technologies, Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, provides display imaging processing technologies in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States. The company operates in two segments, Driver IC and Non-Driver Products. It offers display driver integrated circuits (ICs) and timing controllers that are used in televisions, PC monitors, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, ePaper devices, industrial displays, and other products.