Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest more than doubled to 117,033 shares as of July 15, up 103.5% from June 30; 2.7% of Silicom’s shares are sold short.
• Needham upgraded Silicom from “Hold” to “Buy” with a $60 price target, although the broader analyst consensus remains “Hold.”
• Silicom reported quarterly revenue of $19.1 million and an EPS loss of $0.25, beating analysts’ estimates, while insiders sold 29,438 shares worth approximately $1.33 million during the quarter.

Silicom Ltd (NASDAQ:SILC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 117,033 shares, an increase of 103.5% from the June 30th total of 57,507 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 175,817 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Silicom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Silicom Price Performance

SILC opened at $38.02 on Wednesday. Silicom has a 1-year low of $13.34 and a 1-year high of $52.95. The stock has a market cap of $218.62 million, a P/E ratio of -19.70 and a beta of 1.54. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $43.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.57.

Silicom (NASDAQ:SILC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The technology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $19.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.97 million. Silicom had a negative return on equity of 9.30% and a negative net margin of 16.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Silicom

In other news, Director Avinoam Eizenman sold 9,023 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.66, for a total transaction of $402,967.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 188,736 shares in the company, valued at $8,428,949.76. The trade was a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Liron Eizenman sold 8,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $402,547.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $701,065. This represents a 36.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,438 shares of company stock valued at $1,334,244. Insiders own 25.38% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicom

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Silicom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,306,000. Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P acquired a new position in Silicom during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,639,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Silicom during the 1st quarter worth $537,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new position in Silicom during the 3rd quarter worth $277,000. Finally, First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. increased its position in Silicom by 3.6% in the first quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 315,642 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,660,000 after buying an additional 10,834 shares during the period. 52.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Silicom

Silicom Ltd. is an Israel‐based provider of advanced networking infrastructure products designed to enhance data throughput, security, and functionality in enterprise, cloud, telecommunications, and edge‐computing environments. The company develops and manufactures a range of network interface cards (NICs), specialized adapters, and turnkey network appliances that support high‐performance packet processing, encryption, compression, and traffic optimization. Silicom's solutions are engineered to offload complex network functions from central processing units, enabling customers to achieve greater efficiency, reliability, and scalability in their data centers.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Lod, Israel, Silicom has grown from a niche hardware developer into a global supplier of connectivity and networking solutions.

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