Semtech Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SMTC)

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 5,552 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 351% compared to the typical volume of 1,230 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Asaf Silberstein sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $920,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 68,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,301,632. This represents a 12.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Mark Lin sold 3,908 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.24, for a total value of $340,933.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 26,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,315,000.64. This trade represents a 12.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 40,191 shares of company stock worth $3,361,412 in the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Semtech

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Semtech by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Semtech by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 4,410 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Semtech by 3.2% during the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 5,074 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Semtech by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 19,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in Semtech by 42.5% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter.

Semtech Stock Performance

SMTC traded down $8.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,503,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,505,235. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.08. The stock has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 259.61 and a beta of 1.99. Semtech has a twelve month low of $24.05 and a twelve month high of $96.46.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.01. Semtech had a net margin of 2.77% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $274.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Semtech’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Semtech will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

More Semtech News

Here are the key news stories impacting Semtech this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record revenue and non?GAAP beat: Fiscal Q4 net sales were a company record and non?GAAP EPS of $0.44 modestly topped expectations, showing operating momentum that supports longer?term growth thesis. Business Wire: Q4 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets: Multiple firms (Baird, Needham, Stifel, Benchmark among others) raised PTs and reiterated/added buy/outperform views, signaling sustained analyst conviction that could support the stock over time. Benzinga: Analyst Moves
• Positive Sentiment: New product news: Semtech launched a 224Gbps IC family aimed at linear optics/datacenter markets — a product catalyst that can support revenue mix expansion. Yahoo Finance: Product Launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Guidance roughly in line: Q1 revenue guidance (~$283M ±$5M) and non?GAAP EPS guidance ($0.45 ±$0.03) were essentially in line with market expectations, reducing the likelihood of an upside surprise in the near term. Yahoo Finance: Call Highlights
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP loss driven by impairment charges: The quarter included sizable goodwill/intangible impairments that pushed GAAP diluted EPS to a loss and produced a negative GAAP operating margin — a near?term headline that likely triggered the sell?the?news reaction. QuiverQuant: Slide Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and institutional selling: Recent disclosures show multiple insider sales (no recent purchases) and large institutional reductions by some funds — items that can weigh on sentiment even if strategic. QuiverQuant: Insider & HF Activity

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SMTC shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Semtech in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Semtech from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of Semtech from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Semtech from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Semtech in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.43.

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.