Short Interest in SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Expands By 25.0%

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,060,000 shares, an increase of 25.0% from the February 13th total of 847,900 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 257,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

SK Telecom Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SKM traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.52. 273,534 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 245,965. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.91. SK Telecom has a twelve month low of $19.88 and a twelve month high of $24.58.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. SK Telecom had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.39%. As a group, equities analysts expect that SK Telecom will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SK Telecom

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SKM. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of SK Telecom by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,938,528 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $61,827,000 after purchasing an additional 583,519 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of SK Telecom by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,595,390 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $33,567,000 after purchasing an additional 133,742 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of SK Telecom by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 811,850 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $19,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of SK Telecom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,712,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SK Telecom by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 289,356 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $6,088,000 after purchasing an additional 85,278 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on SKM shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of SK Telecom in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. provides wireless telecommunication services in South Korea. The company operates through three segments: Cellular Services, Fixed-Line Telecommunications Services, and Other Businesses. The Cellular Services segment offers wireless voice and data transmission, Internet of Things solutions, platform, cloud, smart factory solutions, subscription, advertising and curated shopping under T Deal brand name, and metaverse platform-based services, as well as sells wireless devices.