Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 960,800 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the January 15th total of 789,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 341,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SIMO. Craig Hallum reduced their price target on Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SIMO traded up $1.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $56.47. The company had a trading volume of 340,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,092. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.74. Silicon Motion Technology has a fifty-two week low of $48.81 and a fifty-two week high of $85.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 11.59% and a net margin of 11.29%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.98%.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 5th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor producer to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 139.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,365 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $151,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

Silicon Motion Technology Company Profile

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices. The company offers controllers for computing-grade solid state drives (SSDs), which are used in PCs and other client devices; enterprise-grade SSDs used in data centers; eMMC and UFS mobile embedded storage for use in smartphones and IoT devices; flash memory cards and flash drives for use in expandable storage; and specialized SSDs that are used in industrial, commercial, and automotive applications.