SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,618,129 shares, an increase of 63.5% from the February 26th total of 2,212,539 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,090,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SK Telecom

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SKM. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of SK Telecom by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 25,371 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of SK Telecom by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,552 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. raised its position in shares of SK Telecom by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,822 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in SK Telecom by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 27,553 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in SK Telecom by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,732 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on SKM. Weiss Ratings upgraded SK Telecom from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research upgraded SK Telecom from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of SK Telecom from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Daiwa Securities Group cut shares of SK Telecom to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SK Telecom presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

SK Telecom Stock Up 2.6%

NYSE SKM traded up $0.77 on Friday, hitting $29.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,493,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,688,697. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.62. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.00. SK Telecom has a 52-week low of $19.66 and a 52-week high of $33.71.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The Wireless communications provider reported $10.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $10.57. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 3.21% and a net margin of 2.28%. Equities research analysts anticipate that SK Telecom will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) is South Korea’s largest wireless carrier, offering a comprehensive range of mobile telecommunications services. The company operates 5G, 4G LTE and IoT networks, providing voice, data and messaging solutions to consumers and businesses. Beyond traditional wireless services, SK Telecom delivers fixed-line broadband, digital content platforms, cloud computing and cybersecurity offerings designed to support enterprise digital transformation and the growing demand for high-speed connectivity.

Established in 1984 as Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services, SK Telecom pioneered cellular service commercialization in South Korea and has continually expanded into new technology areas.