Lattice Semiconductor Co. (NASDAQ:LSCC) Short Interest Up 21.9% in February

Lattice Semiconductor Co. (NASDAQ:LSCC) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 10,200,000 shares, an increase of 21.9% from the February 13th total of 8,370,000 shares. Approximately 7.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Lattice Semiconductor Stock Performance

LSCC traded down $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,057,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,294,088. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.61. Lattice Semiconductor has a 52-week low of $40.65 and a 52-week high of $80.47. The company has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.43.

Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The semiconductor company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.14). Lattice Semiconductor had a net margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 11.22%. Equities analysts predict that Lattice Semiconductor will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lattice Semiconductor

In other Lattice Semiconductor news, SVP Mark Jon Nelson sold 1,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.28, for a total value of $105,968.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 83,289 shares in the company, valued at $4,770,793.92. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Pravin Desale sold 2,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.29, for a total transaction of $197,358.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 93,903 shares in the company, valued at $6,412,635.87. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,740 shares of company stock valued at $943,026. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lattice Semiconductor by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 452,170 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,657,000 after purchasing an additional 38,826 shares in the last quarter. Pier Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Lattice Semiconductor by 114.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 161,505 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,571,000 after buying an additional 86,276 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lattice Semiconductor in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,314,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Lattice Semiconductor by 99.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,172,000 after acquiring an additional 29,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Lattice Semiconductor by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 28,111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 98.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LSCC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Lattice Semiconductor from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lattice Semiconductor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Lattice Semiconductor from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Lattice Semiconductor in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Lattice Semiconductor from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lattice Semiconductor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.25.

About Lattice Semiconductor

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops and sells semiconductor products in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The company offers field programmable gate arrays that consist of four product families, including the Lattice Certus and ECP, Mach, iCE, and CrossLink. It also provides video connectivity application specific standard products.