SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Stock Short Interest Drops 49.6%

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,655,786 shares, a decline of 49.6% from the September 15th total of 3,283,903 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 979,715 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SKM. Wall Street Zen raised SK Telecom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of SK Telecom from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SK Telecom from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SK Telecom presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SK Telecom

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SK Telecom during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,869,000. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in SK Telecom in the second quarter valued at approximately $24,120,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its holdings in SK Telecom by 136.8% in the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 568,343 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $16,647,000 after buying an additional 328,300 shares during the period. Nykredit A S bought a new position in SK Telecom in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,475,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in SK Telecom in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,459,000.

SK Telecom Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NYSE:SKM traded down $1.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $32.81. 3,502,202 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,033,068. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.87. The firm has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 0.72. SK Telecom has a 1-year low of $19.66 and a 1-year high of $47.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.22. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 5.30% and a net margin of 4.23%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Analysts anticipate that SK Telecom will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. is a South Korean telecommunications company and a member of the SK Group. Headquartered in Seoul, the company provides mobile communications services, including voice, messaging, wireless data, 5G connectivity and related subscription services, primarily in South Korea.

Through its affiliates and business operations, SK Telecom also offers fixed-line broadband internet, internet protocol television and media services. Its enterprise portfolio includes cloud computing, data center services, information and communication technology solutions, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things services for businesses and public-sector customers.

The company traces its origins to Korea Mobile Telecommunications, established in 1984, and adopted the SK Telecom name in 1998 following its incorporation into the SK Group.