Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest surged 91.2% to 136,047 shares as of August 31, representing about 3.2% of Silicom’s outstanding shares and 0.6 days of average trading volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Needham upgraded the stock to “Buy” with a $60 price target, while Weiss Ratings maintained a “Sell” rating. The overall consensus is “Hold” with a $60 target.
• Silicom reported quarterly revenue of $23.81 million and an adjusted EPS loss of $0.16, both ahead of analyst expectations, although the company remained unprofitable with a negative 12.98% net margin.

Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 136,047 shares, a growth of 91.2% from the August 15th total of 71,137 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 218,333 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Silicom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Silicom in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Silicom currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Silicom

In other news, CFO Eran Gilad sold 7,000 shares of Silicom stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.45, for a total transaction of $311,150.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yeshayhu Orbach sold 2,969 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $133,605.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 48,041 shares of company stock worth $2,331,789 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.38% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Silicom in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Silicom during the 1st quarter worth about $537,000. Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P acquired a new stake in shares of Silicom in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,639,000. Finally, First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. increased its position in Silicom by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 315,642 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,660,000 after buying an additional 10,834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.85% of the company's stock.

Silicom Price Performance

Shares of SILC traded up $1.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $42.86. 139,150 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 126,829. Silicom has a fifty-two week low of $13.34 and a fifty-two week high of $52.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.61 and a 200-day moving average of $36.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.43 million, a P/E ratio of -24.82 and a beta of 1.57.

Silicom (NASDAQ:SILC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.08. Silicom had a negative net margin of 12.98% and a negative return on equity of 8.37%. The business had revenue of $23.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 million.

Silicom Company Profile

Silicom Ltd. is an Israeli technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets high-performance networking and data infrastructure solutions. Its products are used to improve network visibility, security, performance and reliability in data centers, telecommunications networks, cloud environments and enterprise systems.

The company's product portfolio includes network interface cards, intelligent and programmable adapters, server connectivity solutions, network bypass products, packet-processing and traffic-management platforms, and specialized hardware for network security and performance acceleration.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.