StockNews.com Upgrades Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

SIMO has been the topic of several other research reports. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $94.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna reduced 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Craig Hallum reduced 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target 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 and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Silicon Motion Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.11.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SIMO opened at $52.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.63. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52-week low of $48.81 and a 52-week high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 10.90% and a return on equity of 11.52%. Analysts predict that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.38%.

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

Institutional Trading of Silicon Motion Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,300 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,080,375 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $65,622,000 after purchasing an additional 326,358 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 795 shares during the period. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 190,000 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the period. 78.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.