Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) Short Interest Up 14.8% in April

Key Points

• Short interest rose 14.8% in April to 6,187,738 shares (about 6.7% of the float), giving a short-interest ratio of roughly 2.9 days based on average daily volume.
• Insiders have been selling: executives including the CFO and COO reduced positions, with insiders selling 46,384 shares (~$3.92M) in the past 90 days and insiders now owning 0.48% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: the consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $95.71 and multiple firms recently raising targets (e.g., B. Riley $122, Susquehanna $100).

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,187,738 shares, an increase of 14.8% from the March 31st total of 5,387,755 shares. Currently, 6.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,110,405 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Semtech from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Semtech from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Semtech in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Semtech from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their target price on Semtech from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.71.

Insider Activity at Semtech

In other news, CFO Mark Lin sold 9,186 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.05, for a total transaction of $689,409.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,454,885.50. This trade represents a 21.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Asaf Silberstein sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $920,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 68,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,301,632. This trade represents a 12.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 46,384 shares of company stock valued at $3,920,140 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Semtech

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Semtech by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,858,352 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $873,842,000 after purchasing an additional 298,987 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Semtech by 3.7% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,373,744 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $526,861,000 after purchasing an additional 261,647 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Semtech by 13.9% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,691,676 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $335,220,000 after purchasing an additional 571,372 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Semtech by 1.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,037,107 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $182,235,000 after purchasing an additional 60,788 shares during the period. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Semtech by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 3,901,469 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $287,499,000 after purchasing an additional 396,504 shares during the period.

Semtech Stock Performance

Shares of Semtech stock opened at $105.05 on Friday. Semtech has a 1-year low of $32.30 and a 1-year high of $113.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $88.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.64. The company has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -238.75 and a beta of 2.06.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 positive return on equity of 18.09% and a negative net margin of 3.86%.The firm's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Semtech will post 1.6 EPS 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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