State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stock Position in Semtech Corporation $SMTC

Key Points

• State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its Semtech stake by 20.1%, selling 8,673 shares in Q4 and leaving 34,394 shares valued at about $2.53 million.
• Analyst sentiment has turned more positive: multiple firms raised price targets (several into the $98–$122 range) and the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a $95.71 target.
• Company insiders have been net sellers, disposing of 46,384 shares worth roughly $3.92 million in the last quarter, leaving insiders with about 0.48% ownership.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC - Free Report) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,394 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 8,673 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Semtech were worth $2,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SMTC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Semtech by 12,214.3% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,586 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Semtech by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,389 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Semtech by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 411,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $14,166,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Semtech during the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in Semtech during the second quarter valued at approximately $226,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMTC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Semtech news, EVP Jason Elliot Green sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.73, for a total value of $612,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,811 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $720,123.03. This trade represents a 45.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hong Q. Hou sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.11, for a total transaction of $180,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 73,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,598,575.08. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,384 shares of company stock valued at $3,920,140. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Semtech Trading Up 5.5%

NASDAQ SMTC opened at $119.19 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.45. The stock has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -270.89 and a beta of 2.22. Semtech Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $120.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $274.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $273.14 million. Semtech had a negative net margin of 3.86% and a positive return on equity of 18.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Semtech Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Semtech Company Profile

Semtech Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms. The company's products address a broad range of applications in the Internet of Things (IoT), data center and telecom, industrial, home automation, automotive, and aerospace markets. Semtech's portfolio includes power management, signal integrity, protection devices, wireless and sensing technologies that enable smarter, more connected systems worldwide.

A core offering from Semtech is its LoRa® technology, a low-power, long-range wireless communication platform that has become a de facto standard for global IoT deployments.

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