StockNews.com Downgrades Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) to Hold

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Silicon Motion Technology stock opened at $56.47 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.98. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.79. Silicon Motion Technology has a 1 year low of $48.81 and a 1 year high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 11.59% and a net margin of 11.29%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Silicon Motion Technology will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology announced that its board has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Silicon Motion Technology

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,826,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,016 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $12,149,000 after purchasing an additional 35,741 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $7,793,000 after purchasing an additional 62,733 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter worth approximately $431,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew 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 worth $136,032,000 after purchasing an additional 485,862 shares in 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.