Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Short Interest Up 21.7% in January

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of 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. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 341,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIMO. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 139.5% during 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at about $151,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. 78.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of SIMO stock traded up $1.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $56.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 340,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,092. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.74. Silicon Motion Technology has a one year low of $48.81 and a one year high of $85.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.98%.

Silicon Motion Technology announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor producer to repurchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Silicon Motion Technology

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.