Traders Buy Large Volume of Semtech Call Options (NASDAQ:SMTC)

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 8,300 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 84% compared to the average daily volume of 4,502 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Semtech in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Oppenheimer set a $200.00 price objective on Semtech in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Craig Hallum raised their price objective on Semtech from $105.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Semtech from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Semtech from $165.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Semtech has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.44.

Key Semtech News

Here are the key news stories impacting Semtech this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Semtech reported fiscal Q2 revenue of $341.9 million, up 33% year over year, while non-GAAP earnings of $0.71 per share exceeded the approximately $0.61 consensus estimate. Growth was driven by data-center demand, LoRa IoT products and improved margins. Semtech’s Q2 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Increase Year over Year
• Positive Sentiment: The company issued an especially strong fiscal Q3 outlook: revenue of $405 million to $415 million and adjusted EPS of $1.02 to $1.08, both well above analyst expectations. The guidance suggests continued sequential acceleration. Semtech Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2027 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted a major data-center ramp, including 1.6-terabit networking opportunities, a record backlog and data-center sales growth of about 91%. Capacity expansion is intended to address demand tied to artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Semtech Dumps Cellular Business to Double Down on Data Centers
• Positive Sentiment: Semtech plans to divest its cellular business and focus more heavily on data centers and connected IoT. Investors may view the transaction as a portfolio upgrade that could improve the company’s structural growth and margins. SMTC Q2 Earnings Call Spotlights 1.6T Data Center Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Needham and Susquehanna reiterated Buy ratings, with price targets of $200 and $200, respectively, citing data-center growth, guidance and potential profitability upside. Semtech Gains as Needham Praises Results and Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Call-option volume was unusually high, with roughly 8,300 calls traded versus an average of about 4,500. This signals heightened bullish speculation but does not guarantee sustained buying.
• Negative Sentiment: Quiver Quantitative reported that Semtech insiders recorded only sales—not purchases—in the past six months. Insider selling may temper sentiment, although it is less influential than the earnings and outlook surprise.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Asaf Silberstein sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.80, for a total transaction of $1,086,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,862 shares in the company, valued at $12,378,963.60. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Hong Q. Hou sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.00, for a total transaction of $266,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 64,799 shares in the company, valued at $8,618,267. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,734 shares of company stock valued at $3,133,986. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Semtech

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Semtech in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,438,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Semtech by 16,868.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 17,446,944 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,823,788,000 after buying an additional 17,344,126 shares during the last quarter. Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Semtech in the second quarter valued at approximately $490,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Semtech in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,343,000. Finally, MOR Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Semtech in the second quarter worth $457,000.

Semtech Stock Performance

SMTC traded up $10.61 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $138.13. The stock had a trading volume of 6,029,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,193. The firm has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a PE ratio of -352.44 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Semtech has a 12 month low of $55.18 and a 12 month high of $177.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.21.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 25th. The semiconductor company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $341.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $328.67 million. Semtech had a negative net margin of 3.05% and a positive return on equity of 18.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. Semtech has set its Q3 2027 guidance at 1.020-1.080 EPS. Analysts expect that Semtech will post 1.81 EPS for the current year.

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.