Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

SIMO has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $94.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm lowered their target price 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. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Susquehanna decreased their target price on 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. Finally, Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Silicon Motion Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.67.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $56.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.65.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 75.38%.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 5th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor producer to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Silicon Motion Technology

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,948 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 5,668 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 15.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,215 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

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.