Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) Short Interest Down 12.2% in December

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

Institutional Trading of Himax Technologies

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

Himax Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Himax Technologies stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $8.85. 2,204,677 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,119. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $6.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.45. Himax Technologies has a 1-year low of $4.80 and a 1-year high of $9.80.

Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $222.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.93 million. Himax Technologies had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 9.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 EPS.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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