Trexquant Investment LP Sells 21,916 Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Trexquant Investment LP decreased its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,047 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after selling 21,916 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Silicon Motion Technology were worth $3,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,341 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $1,904,000 after buying an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology during the third quarter valued at $290,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 27.8% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 30.9% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,175 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SIMO opened at $41.12 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.81. Silicon Motion Technology Co. has a 1 year low of $39.50 and a 1 year high of $85.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.97.

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

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

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 4.86%. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SIMO. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.63.

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.