Short Interest in Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Drops By 16.5%

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 876,900 shares, a decline of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 461,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of SIMO stock opened at $75.28 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.43. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 47.65, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.85. Silicon Motion Technology has a 12-month low of $49.50 and a 12-month high of $95.33.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $202.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.60 million. Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 8.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 125.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Silicon Motion Technology from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Silicon Motion Technology from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. B. Riley upped their target price on Silicon Motion Technology from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their target price on Silicon Motion Technology from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 154.9% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 548 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Barclays PLC acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 183.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 686 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. 78.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.