Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys 172,867 Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO - Free Report) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 696,293 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock after buying an additional 172,867 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 2.07% of Silicon Motion Technology worth $37,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,341 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock worth $1,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the third quarter valued at approximately $290,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 30.9% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,175 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.02% of the company's stock.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Down 6.5 %

NASDAQ SIMO traded down $2.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.62. 124,296 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 355,168. Silicon Motion Technology Co. has a 52 week low of $36.95 and a 52 week high of $85.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.47. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.81.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 11.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.05%. Silicon Motion Technology's payout ratio is currently 74.35%.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 5th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor producer to repurchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SIMO shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology 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.