Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on SIMO. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target 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. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Susquehanna reduced 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. Craig Hallum dropped their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.11.

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Down 5.0 %

SIMO stock opened at $52.80 on Wednesday. Silicon Motion Technology has a one year low of $48.81 and a one year high of $85.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.63.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.38%.

Silicon Motion Technology announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor producer to buy up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 27.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,239,574 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $136,032,000 after purchasing an additional 485,862 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,135,738 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $61,387,000 after purchasing an additional 55,363 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 21.7% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,103,913 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $67,051,000 after purchasing an additional 196,609 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Silicon Motion Technology in the third quarter worth $40,331,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 36.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 570,816 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $34,671,000 after purchasing an additional 152,467 shares during the period. 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.