SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Consensus "Hold": Eight analysts give SK Telecom a consensus rating of Hold, with a split of 3 sell, 3 hold, 1 buy and 1 strong buy, signaling mixed analyst sentiment.
• Divergent broker actions this quarter include downgrades from Citigroup (to "strong sell") and Bank of America (to "underperform") alongside upgrades from Zacks and Weiss (to "strong-buy"/"buy"), underscoring split views on the stock.
• Institutions have been increasing exposure (e.g., Millennium +202.4%, Robeco and UBS sizable lifts, JPMorgan's stake jump), and SK Telecom trades at a $11.22B market cap with a P/E of 42.98 after reporting an unexpected quarterly EPS of $10.67 versus $0.10 consensus and revenue of $214.28B versus $3.02B consensus.

Shares of SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

A number of brokerages have commented on SKM. Citigroup lowered SK Telecom from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered shares of SK Telecom to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of SK Telecom from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SK Telecom from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of SK Telecom from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SK Telecom

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SK Telecom by 202.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 606,347 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $12,448,000 after acquiring an additional 405,863 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of SK Telecom by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,462,769 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $50,561,000 after acquiring an additional 374,428 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in SK Telecom by 80,378.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 328,353 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $6,741,000 after purchasing an additional 327,945 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in SK Telecom by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,193,435 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $51,217,000 after purchasing an additional 303,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its position in SK Telecom by 215.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 426,729 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock worth $8,761,000 after purchasing an additional 291,418 shares during the period.

SK Telecom Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SKM opened at $29.23 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $28.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.56. The company has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.49. SK Telecom has a 12-month low of $19.66 and a 12-month high of $33.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $10.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $10.57. The business had revenue of $214.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 3.21% and a net margin of 2.28%. Equities analysts expect that SK Telecom will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SK Telecom Company Profile

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. NYSE: SKM is South Korea's largest wireless carrier, offering a comprehensive range of mobile telecommunications services. The company operates 5G, 4G LTE and IoT networks, providing voice, data and messaging solutions to consumers and businesses. Beyond traditional wireless services, SK Telecom delivers fixed-line broadband, digital content platforms, cloud computing and cybersecurity offerings designed to support enterprise digital transformation and the growing demand for high-speed connectivity.

Established in 1984 as Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services, SK Telecom pioneered cellular service commercialization in South Korea and has continually expanded into new technology areas.

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