Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) Stock

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target for Super Micro Computer (SMCI) stock from $29.00 to $45.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.11% from the current price.
• Super Micro Computer's stock recently traded at $47.93 after an increase of 2.4%, with a market capitalization of $28.60 billion.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on the stock, with three sell ratings, eight hold ratings, and six buy ratings, leading to an average target price of $44.75.

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Barclays from $29.00 to $45.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 6.11% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Super Micro Computer from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Super Micro Computer from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 target price (up from $37.00) on shares of Super Micro Computer in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Super Micro Computer from $39.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Super Micro Computer in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.75.

Super Micro Computer Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of SMCI traded up $1.14 on Thursday, hitting $47.93. 14,359,817 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 57,042,773. Super Micro Computer has a one year low of $17.25 and a one year high of $66.44. The company has a market capitalization of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 6.66.

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $5.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.88 billion. Super Micro Computer had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 4.77%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Super Micro Computer will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Liang Chiu-Chu Sara Liu sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $12,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,426,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,425,567,200. This represents a 0.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Liang sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $12,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,426,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,425,567,200. This trade represents a 0.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,067,000 shares of company stock valued at $53,949,340. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMCI. FMR LLC purchased a new position in Super Micro Computer in the fourth quarter valued at about $292,869,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Super Micro Computer by 929.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,542,742 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,903,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810,082 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Super Micro Computer by 1,573.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,897,876 shares of the company's stock worth $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,605,260 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Super Micro Computer by 416,945.0% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,753,405 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,404,000 after purchasing an additional 3,752,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Super Micro Computer by 649.5% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,739,323 shares of the company's stock worth $113,975,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,401 shares in the last quarter. 84.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Super Micro Computer

Super Micro Computer, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures high performance server and storage solutions based on modular and open architecture in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. Its solutions range from complete server, storage systems, modular blade servers, blades, workstations, full racks, networking devices, server sub-systems, server management software, and security software.

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