Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $88.00 target price on the semiconductor producer’s stock, up from their prior target price of $59.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on SIMO. Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $91.13.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Down 0.7 %

SIMO opened at $78.72 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.17 and its 200-day moving average is $66.21. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52-week low of $49.50 and a 52-week high of $95.33.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.12. Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm had revenue of $202.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.60 million. Equities analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 113.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SIMO. Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 955,514 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $58,544,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 63.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 944,559 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $48,409,000 after buying an additional 365,461 shares in the last quarter. Segantii Capital Management Ltd lifted its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 178.0% in the third quarter. Segantii Capital Management Ltd now owns 833,991 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $42,742,000 after acquiring an additional 533,991 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 1,250.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 819,289 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $41,989,000 after purchasing an additional 758,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC increased its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 771.4% during the third quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 760,554 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $38,978,000 after buying an additional 673,278 shares during the last quarter. 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.