Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $129.48 and last traded at $129.0580, with a volume of 134507 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $121.81.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMTC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Semtech from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Semtech from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, B. Riley Financial increased their target price on shares of Semtech from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.71.

Semtech Price Performance

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’s 50-day moving average is $90.10 and its 200 day moving average is $80.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.37 billion, a PE ratio of -301.10 and a beta of 2.22.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $274.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.14 million. Semtech had a negative net margin of 3.86% and a positive return on equity of 18.09%. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Semtech Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martin Burvill sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.98, for a total transaction of $222,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,409 shares in the company, valued at $392,312.82. This represents a 36.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Lin sold 974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.42, for a total transaction of $76,381.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 33,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,614,758.06. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 36,384 shares of company stock worth $3,000,140 over the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Semtech

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Semtech by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,858,352 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $873,842,000 after buying an additional 298,987 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Semtech by 3.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,373,744 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $526,861,000 after acquiring an additional 261,647 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Semtech by 13.9% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,691,676 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $335,220,000 after acquiring an additional 571,372 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Semtech by 1.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,037,107 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $182,235,000 after acquiring an additional 60,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Semtech by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 3,901,469 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $287,499,000 after acquiring an additional 396,504 shares in the last quarter.

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.