Aristides Capital LLC Sells 5,440 Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO)

Aristides Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,560 shares of the semiconductor producer’s stock after selling 5,440 shares during the quarter. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Silicon Motion Technology were worth $625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

Shares of Silicon Motion Technology stock opened at $41.12 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.97. The firm has a market cap 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 1 year low of $39.50 and a 1 year high of $85.87.

Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The semiconductor producer reported $0.68 EPS 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 anticipate that Silicon Motion Technology Co. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Silicon Motion Technology Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a 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 approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 5th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor producer to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Silicon Motion Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reissued 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Silicon Motion Technology has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.63.

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.