Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Short Interest Update

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SIMO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna decreased 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. Craig Hallum decreased their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SIMO. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 139.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,365 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at $151,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 519.0% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 2,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.02% of the company's stock.

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ SIMO traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.87. The company had a trading volume of 398,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 405,176. The business's 50-day moving average is $54.59 and its 200-day moving average is $56.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.79. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52 week low of $48.81 and a 52 week high of $85.87.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology's payout ratio is currently 73.98%.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 5th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor producer to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.