Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 136,047 shares, an increase of 91.2% from the August 15th total of 71,137 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 218,333 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Silicom Stock Up 7.8%

Silicom stock traded up $3.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $45.80. The stock had a trading volume of 89,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 127,506. Silicom has a 52-week low of $13.34 and a 52-week high of $52.95. The firm has a market cap of $263.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.78 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.69 and a 200 day moving average of $36.83.

Silicom (NASDAQ:SILC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.08. Silicom had a negative return on equity of 8.37% and a negative net margin of 12.98%.The firm had revenue of $23.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 million.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Avinoam Eizenman sold 20,000 shares of Silicom stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.50, for a total transaction of $1,010,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 168,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,521,168. The trade was a 10.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Eran Gilad sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.45, for a total transaction of $311,150.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,041 shares of company stock valued at $2,331,789. Company insiders own 25.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Silicom

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Silicom during the second quarter worth $34,000. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Silicom by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 315,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,660,000 after acquiring an additional 10,834 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Silicom in the 1st quarter valued at $537,000. Finally, Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P bought a new position in shares of Silicom in the 4th quarter worth $2,639,000. 52.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Silicom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Silicom in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

About Silicom

Silicom Ltd. is an Israeli technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets high-performance networking and data infrastructure solutions. Its products are used to improve network visibility, security, performance and reliability in data centers, telecommunications networks, cloud environments and enterprise systems.

The company’s product portfolio includes network interface cards, intelligent and programmable adapters, server connectivity solutions, network bypass products, packet-processing and traffic-management platforms, and specialized hardware for network security and performance acceleration.