SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Short Interest Up 25.0% in February

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,060,000 shares, an increase of 25.0% from the February 13th total of 847,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 257,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

SK Telecom Price Performance

Shares of SKM stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $21.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 271,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 244,783. SK Telecom has a fifty-two week low of $19.88 and a fifty-two week high of $24.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.77.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts forecast that SK Telecom will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SKM. StockNews.com cut SK Telecom from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SK Telecom in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of SK Telecom from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SK Telecom

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of SK Telecom by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,938,528 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $61,827,000 after buying an additional 583,519 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of SK Telecom by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,595,390 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $33,567,000 after purchasing an additional 133,742 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SK Telecom by 0.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 811,850 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $19,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of SK Telecom in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,712,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in SK Telecom by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 289,356 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $6,088,000 after buying an additional 85,278 shares during the last quarter.

SK Telecom Company Profile

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. provides wireless telecommunication services in South Korea. The company operates through three segments: Cellular Services, Fixed-Line Telecommunications Services, and Other Businesses. The Cellular Services segment offers wireless voice and data transmission, Internet of Things solutions, platform, cloud, smart factory solutions, subscription, advertising and curated shopping under T Deal brand name, and metaverse platform-based services, as well as sells wireless devices.