Aristides Capital LLC Has $625,000 Stake in Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Aristides Capital LLC reduced its stake in Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,560 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after selling 5,440 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Silicon Motion Technology were worth $625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,248 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Silicon Motion Technology during the 4th quarter worth $208,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Silicon Motion Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,959 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 78.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Silicon Motion Technology Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ SIMO opened at $41.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.71. Silicon Motion Technology Co. has a twelve month low of $39.50 and a twelve month high of $85.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.97.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.10). Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 11.29%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. Silicon Motion Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.35%.

Silicon Motion Technology declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor producer to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Silicon Motion Technology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.63.

Silicon Motion Technology 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.