Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Stock Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $55.56 and traded as high as $57.25. Silicon Motion Technology shares last traded at $56.58, with a volume of 1,108,580 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SIMO. StockNews.com downgraded Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Silicon Motion Technology presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.56.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share (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, analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.35%.

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

Institutional Trading of Silicon Motion Technology

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIMO. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 129.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,948 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,959 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP now owns 10,773 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 5,668 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.