SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have assigned SK Telecom an average rating of “Reduce” from eight firms (three sell, four hold, one buy).
• SK Telecom reported a surprising EPS of $10.67 versus a $0.10 consensus (beating by $10.57) while revenue was $3.0B versus a $3.02B estimate; the stock trades at a P/E of 56.07 with a market cap of $14.63 billion.
• Institutional investors materially increased holdings in Q4, notably Millennium (+202.4%), UBS (+215.4%) and JPMorgan (+80,378.7%), indicating significant institutional buying activity.

Shares of SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SKM shares. Daiwa Securities Group cut SK Telecom to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SK Telecom from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research cut SK Telecom from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded SK Telecom from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut SK Telecom from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th.

SK Telecom Stock Performance

SKM opened at $38.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. SK Telecom has a 1 year low of $19.66 and a 1 year high of $40.16. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $31.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.97.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $10.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $10.57. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.02 billion. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 3.21% and a net margin of 2.28%. Sell-side analysts forecast that SK Telecom will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SK Telecom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SK Telecom by 202.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 606,347 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $12,448,000 after buying an additional 405,863 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 374,428 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake 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 valued at $6,741,000 after buying an additional 327,945 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in SK Telecom by 215.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 426,729 shares of the Wireless communications provider's stock valued at $8,761,000 after buying an additional 291,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SK Telecom in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,319,000.

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.

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.