SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) Short Interest Up 63.5% in March

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

SK Telecom Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE SKM traded up $0.77 during trading 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. SK Telecom has a one year low of $19.66 and a one year high of $33.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of SK Telecom

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SKM. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in SK Telecom by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,462,769 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $50,561,000 after buying an additional 374,428 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in SK Telecom by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,253,677 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $48,679,000 after buying an additional 60,242 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in SK Telecom by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,117,361 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $22,939,000 after acquiring an additional 12,672 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of SK Telecom by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 923,579 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $18,961,000 after acquiring an additional 12,848 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of SK Telecom by 9.6% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 886,930 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $19,158,000 after acquiring an additional 77,763 shares during the period.

SK Telecom Company Profile

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.