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

Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.63.

A number of analysts recently commented on SIMO shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Up 3.9 %

SIMO opened at $56.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.71. Silicon Motion Technology has a 52 week low of $48.81 and a 52 week high of $85.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.56.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 11.63%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 74.35%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,826,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 35,741 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology in the 4th quarter valued at about $431,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,239,574 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $136,032,000 after buying an additional 485,862 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,833 shares during the period. 78.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.