US Bancorp DE Cuts Stock Holdings in Silicon Motion Technology Corporation $SIMO
US Bancorp DE trimmed its stake in Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: SIMO) during the second quarter, reducing its position by 5.9% according to a recent regulatory filing. The firm now holds 12,306 shares after selling 766 shares in the period, with the position valued at approximately $925,000 at the time of the filing. The move comes as institutions continue to recalibrate exposure to semiconductor names tied to storage demand across PCs, data centers, mobile, and increasingly, high-performance gaming and virtual reality.
Institutional repositioning gathers pace
- Cerity Partners LLC increased its position by 35.9% in the first quarter, now holding 31,413 shares after adding 8,298 shares, valued at about $1.59 million.
- Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings by 66.8% in Q1 to 3,819 shares after purchasing 1,529 shares, valued around $195,000.
- HSBC Holdings PLC initiated a new position in the first quarter worth roughly $238,000.
- Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. expanded its stake by 16.0% in Q1 to 5,692 shares after acquiring 785 additional shares, valued near $288,000.
- Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. notably grew its stake by 65.5% in Q2, now owning 202,721 shares after adding 80,208 shares, with an estimated value of $15.24 million.
Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own approximately 78.02% of Silicon Motion’s outstanding shares, underscoring the stock’s sensitivity to fund flows and macro sentiment in semiconductors.
Share performance snapshot
SIMO opened at $94.14 on Friday, giving the company a market capitalization of about $3.20 billion. The shares trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.72 and a P/E-to-growth ratio of 4.98, with a beta of 1.03. Over the past 12 months, the stock has ranged from $37.21 to $104.90. The 50-day moving average stands near $86.15, while the 200-day moving average is around $70.27.
Earnings beat, but year-over-year comparison soft
In its latest quarterly update on Wednesday, July 30, Silicon Motion reported earnings per share of $0.69, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54. Revenue came in at $198.68 million, beating expectations of $180.40 million. The company posted a net margin of 10.36% and return on equity of 10.14%. Revenue fell 5.7% year over year, and EPS was down from $0.96 in the same quarter last year.
The company also provided guidance for the upcoming quarter. For the full fiscal year, analysts currently anticipate EPS of about 3.08.
Analyst sentiment and price targets
- Craig Hallum raised its price target from $70 to $100 and reiterated a Buy rating on Thursday, July 31.
- Weiss Ratings maintained a Hold (c) rating on Wednesday, October 8.
- Needham & Company LLC increased its target from $65 to $90 with a Buy rating on Thursday, July 31.
- Susquehanna nudged its target from $90 to $95 with a Positive rating on Friday, August 1.
- B. Riley boosted its target from $105 to $120 and kept a Buy rating on Wednesday, September 24.
Overall, the coverage skews bullish, with a majority of Buy ratings and an average target price near $96.43.
What Silicon Motion makes—and why it matters to gaming and VR
Silicon Motion designs and sells NAND flash controllers that power a wide range of solid-state storage solutions. Its portfolio spans controllers for client-grade SSDs in PCs and notebooks, enterprise SSDs used in data centers, embedded storage (eMMC and UFS) for smartphones and IoT devices, as well as controllers for memory cards, USB drives, and specialized SSDs used in industrial, commercial, and automotive environments.
These controllers are crucial to the performance and reliability of modern storage—a core ingredient in gaming PCs, consoles, and VR headsets where load times, asset streaming, and responsiveness can define the experience. As the industry increasingly leans on faster storage for high-fidelity worlds and low-latency immersive applications, shifts in institutional positioning around SIMO will be watched closely by investors and enthusiasts tracking the semiconductor supply chain behind next-gen gaming and virtual reality.
