Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. Approximately 432,624 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the previous session’s volume of 441,961 shares.The stock last traded at $80.68 and had previously closed at $73.96.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Silicon Motion Technology’s payout ratio is 113.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on SIMO. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Silicon Motion Technology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $88.00 in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Silicon Motion Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $91.13.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Up 6.3 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.80 and a 200 day moving average of $65.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.65, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.12. Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $202.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.60 million. Analysts predict that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIMO. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Silicon Motion Technology by 154.9% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 548 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 73,150 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,332 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 183.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 686 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 76.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,788 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.02% of the company’s stock.

About Silicon Motion Technology

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.