Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Raised to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $47.00 price target on the semiconductor producer’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 6.67% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.00.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Up 5.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $44.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.04. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52 week low of $37.21 and a 52 week high of $85.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.81.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 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%. On average, analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor producer to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIMO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 61.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,152 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $88,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,248 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 519.0% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 2,543 shares in the last quarter. 78.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.