Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:SIMO) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:SIMO) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $341.43.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $312.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $240.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Down 15.4%

NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $187.96 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.71. The stock has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.69. Silicon Motion Technology has a fifty-two week low of $79.76 and a fifty-two week high of $355.00.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The semiconductor producer reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $451.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $403.41 million. Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 22.06% and a return on equity of 32.04%. The company’s revenue was up 127.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Silicon Motion Technology will post 10.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Silicon Motion Technology Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.5750 per share. This is a boost from Silicon Motion Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 5th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is presently 23.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 48.9% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,173,315 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $131,752,000 after acquiring an additional 385,568 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 3.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 781,981 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $87,809,000 after purchasing an additional 23,403 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 112.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 425,697 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $47,802,000 after buying an additional 225,221 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 307,570 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $86,120,000 after buying an additional 7,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 36.4% during the first quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 300,000 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $33,687,000 after buying an additional 80,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

About Silicon Motion Technology

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets NAND flash storage controllers. Its products manage the storage, performance, reliability and power consumption of data stored in NAND flash memory and are used in a range of consumer, mobile, computing and industrial applications.

The company’s product portfolio includes controllers for solid-state drives (SSDs), embedded storage products such as eMMC and UFS devices, and other flash-based storage solutions.