Boston Partners Boosts Holdings in Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) by 47.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 311,402 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after buying an additional 100,033 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Silicon Motion Technology were worth $16,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Silicon Motion Technology during the third quarter worth approximately $1,826,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,016 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $12,149,000 after buying an additional 35,741 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter worth $431,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,239,574 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $136,032,000 after buying an additional 485,862 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 30.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,175 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares during the last quarter. 78.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Down 1.2 %

SIMO opened at $55.92 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.06 and its 200-day moving average is $55.56. Silicon Motion Technology Co. has a 52-week low of $48.81 and a 52-week high of $85.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.71.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last issued 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 return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 11.29%. Equities analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 5th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor producer to repurchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SIMO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology 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.