Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Short Interest Up 31.1% in July

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 880,200 shares, an increase of 31.1% from the June 30th total of 671,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 355,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIMO. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 161.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,336,448 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $102,779,000 after acquiring an additional 825,394 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,073,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 1st quarter worth approximately $53,676,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 247.0% in the 1st quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 855,449 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $65,818,000 after acquiring an additional 608,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pertento Partners LLP increased its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 262.6% in the 4th quarter. Pertento Partners LLP now owns 605,469 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $37,097,000 after acquiring an additional 438,469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Silicon Motion Technology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Silicon Motion Technology has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $93.13.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

Silicon Motion Technology stock traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $70.08. The stock had a trading volume of 625,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 310,213. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.82, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.45. Silicon Motion Technology has a one year low of $49.50 and a one year high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor producer reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $189.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.23 million. Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 7.78%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 113.07%.

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.