Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Cut to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen cut Silicon Motion Technology from “strong-buy” to “buy”, though the stock still carries a generally positive analyst consensus.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.58 beating estimates and revenue of $342.11 million, up 105.5% year over year.
• Shares were trading around $300.71, near their 52-week high of $355.00, and the stock has seen both insider selling and heavy institutional ownership at 78.02%.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

SIMO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Silicon Motion Technology from $145.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Craig Hallum reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Silicon Motion Technology from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Silicon Motion Technology from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Silicon Motion Technology from $175.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $246.43.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SIMO opened at $300.71 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $269.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.78, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.70. Silicon Motion Technology has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $355.00.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The semiconductor producer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.27. Silicon Motion Technology had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 20.24%. The firm had revenue of $342.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $299.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 105.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology will post 8.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Silicon Motion Technology

In other news, Director Han-Ping Shieh sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.00, for a total transaction of $328,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,460,000. This trade represents a 11.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kuan-Ming Lin sold 2,000 shares of Silicon Motion Technology stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $610,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,592,500. This represents a 19.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,239,250 over the last three months. 5.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SIMO. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 25.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,226 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Silicon Motion Technology by 33.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 244,387 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock worth $27,442,000 after purchasing an additional 60,970 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 78.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,159 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 4.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,037 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 48.9% during the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,173,315 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $131,752,000 after purchasing an additional 385,568 shares during the period. 78.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Silicon Motion Technology Company Profile

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices. The company offers controllers for computing-grade solid state drives (SSDs), which are used in PCs and other client devices; enterprise-grade SSDs used in data centers; eMMC and UFS mobile embedded storage for use in smartphones and IoT devices; flash memory cards and flash drives for use in expandable storage; and specialized SSDs that are used in industrial, commercial, and automotive applications.

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