Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $70.00 target price on the semiconductor producer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on SIMO. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Silicon Motion Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Craig Hallum cut their target price 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, Susquehanna lowered 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 research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.11.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $52.80 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $54.63 and its 200 day moving average is $57.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79. Silicon Motion Technology has a fifty-two week low of $48.81 and a fifty-two week high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last posted 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 11.29% and a return on equity of 11.59%. Equities analysts forecast that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 5th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor producer to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 73.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the second quarter valued at $236,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 17.0% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,300 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,080,375 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $65,622,000 after acquiring an additional 326,358 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 139.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,365 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $11,541,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

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.