Shares of Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) are in the red again today, bringing its loss since the market open on Feb. 16 to more than 30%. The company hasn’t issued any news to explain this decline; rather, the downfall seems attributed to an overly optimistic valuation that is being corrected.
Over the past year, short sellers of SMCI stock have witnessed $4.8 billion of paper losses. This includes paper gains of $1.2 billion on Friday when Super Micro plunged by 20%. Friday’s fall was SMCI stock’s largest decline since August.
At the same time, the shorts haven’t given up just yet. “In the last 30 days, the group has increased shares shorted by 12%, piling an additional $623 million into bets against the artificial intelligence darling, per S3,” said Bloomberg.
This morning, Rosenblatt raised its SMCI price target to a street-high of $1,300 from $700. Analyst Hans Mosesmann believes that Super Micro is benefitting from the wave of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as from taking market share. He added that the company’s liquid cooling technology carries great potential for the expansion of cloud AI opportunities.
5 Investors Betting Big on SMCI Stock
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. During Q4, 619 13F filers disclosed a stake in SMCI, a significant increase from 547 filers during Q3. Total shares owned by these filers increased by 6.09% to 38.91 million from 36.68 million. Twenty-four of these filers own SMCI in their top 10 positions, up from 20.
Hedge funds, whose data is included in 13F metrics, appeared surprisingly bearish. A total of 136 funds reported ownership of Super Micro, down from 145 funds. These funds own 9.94 million shares, down by 13.31% compared to ownership of 11.46 million shares as of Q3. Fifteen funds own SMCI in their top 10 positions, up from 12.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at Super Micro’s largest shareholders:
- President and CEO Charles Liang: 7.67 million shares. Liang’s stake includes 1 million employee stock options and 1,182 restricted stock units.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 6.38 million shares. BlackRock acquired 558,756 shares during Q4.
- Vanguard: 4.92 million shares. Vanguard acquired 194,700 shares during Q4.
- Disciplined Growth Investors: 2.72 million shares. Disciplined Growth sold 105,979 shares during Q4.
- State Street (NYSE:STT): 1.84 million shares. State Street acquired 88,857 shares during Q4.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
