Short Interest in Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) Increases By 14.8%

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,187,738 shares, a growth of 14.8% from the March 31st total of 5,387,755 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,110,405 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SMTC shares. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on Semtech from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Semtech in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Semtech from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Semtech from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Semtech from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Semtech currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.71.

Semtech Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMTC opened at $107.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.64. Semtech has a 52 week low of $32.77 and a 52 week high of $113.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a PE ratio of -245.02 and a beta of 2.22.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. Semtech had a positive return on equity of 18.09% and a negative net margin of 3.86%.The firm had revenue of $274.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Semtech will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Semtech news, Director Paul V. Walsh, Jr. sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.93, for a total value of $52,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,779 shares in the company, valued at $2,518,909.47. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Martin Burvill sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.98, for a total value of $222,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,312.82. This trade represents a 36.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,384 shares of company stock valued at $3,920,140. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Semtech

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SMTC. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Semtech during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Semtech by 243.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 508 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Semtech during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Semtech by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Semtech by 65.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 594 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period.

Semtech Company Profile

Semtech Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms. The company’s products address a broad range of applications in the Internet of Things (IoT), data center and telecom, industrial, home automation, automotive, and aerospace markets. Semtech’s portfolio includes power management, signal integrity, protection devices, wireless and sensing technologies that enable smarter, more connected systems worldwide.

A core offering from Semtech is its LoRa® technology, a low-power, long-range wireless communication platform that has become a de facto standard for global IoT deployments.