The number of shareholders of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) grew by almost 14,000 last week before TSMC shares will go ex-dividend on Thursday, with market analysts saying the increase showed more investors were upbeat about the company’s business outlook and willing to hold on to their shares for the dividend payment.
Data compiled by the Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC) showed the number of TSMC’s shareholders on the local main board rose by 13,924 a week to about 1.45 million as of Dec. 9, although TSMC shares fell by 2.23 percent from a week earlier to NT$481.50 (US$15.68).
Amid rising optimism about TSMC’s long-term prospects despite short-term uncertainty caused by inventory adjustments due to weakening global demand, the number of retail investors who could not afford to buy the standard 1,000-share lot in one transaction but bought stock in odd lots — orders of fewer than 1,000 shares — rose by 7,123 from a week earlier to 883,883 as of Dec. 9.
The number of TSMC shareholders who own 1,000 to 5,000 shares each also rose by 5,869 a week to 464,132 as of Dec. 9, while the number of the company’s shareholders who hold more than 1 million shares each fell to 1,471 from 1,481.
TSMC shares are expected to return to its prior ex-dividend level on Thursday as investors are keen to receive the company’s ex-dividend.
In the previous 13 ex-dividend dates, TSMC shares returned to its prior ex-dividend levels on the same day nine times.
For companies in Taiwan that issue cash dividends annually, the ex-dividend date is the date on which a stock begins trading after the cash dividend to be paid out on the previous year’s earnings has been deducted.
TSMC, which started to issue cash dividends on a quarterly basis instead of annually in 2019, will issue NT$2.75 per share in cash dividend on Jan. 12, 2023 after the ex-dividend date for its earnings in the third quarter of this year.
At that time the chipmaker raked in a record NT$280.87 billion in net profit, or NT$10.83 per share, on the back of solid global demand for smartphones as well as emerging technologies such as high-performance computing devices, automotive electronics, and the Internet of Things.
TSMC Chairman Mark Liu (???), who holds 12.91 million TSMC shares, is expected to receive NT$35.51 million in cash dividends, while C.C. Wei (???), the company’s CEO, is expected to bag NT$16.16 million as he owns 5.87 million TSMC shares.
Analysts are divided over whether the current inventory adjustments, which are expected to continue into next year, will have an adverse impact on TSMC’s sales for 2023. Some analysts forecasted the chipmaker will post a record high of about US$100 billion in sales next year while others disputed this estimate.
In the first 11 months of this year, TSMC’s consolidated sales stood at NT$2.07 trillion or about US$67.43 billion, up 44.6 percent from a year earlier.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel