Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.63.

SIMO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Down 3.1 %

SIMO stock opened at $53.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.41. Silicon Motion Technology has a 1 year low of $48.81 and a 1 year high of $85.87. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.71.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Silicon Motion Technology will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is presently 74.35%.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology during the fourth quarter worth about $88,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,248 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 519.0% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 2,543 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.