Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

SIMO has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Performance

Silicon Motion Technology stock opened at $55.28 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.99. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52-week low of $48.81 and a 52-week high of $85.87. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last announced its 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 11.59% and a net margin of 11.29%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is presently 73.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIMO. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,826,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 21.8% in 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 last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 128,299 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $7,793,000 after acquiring an additional 62,733 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter worth $431,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 485,862 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

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.