Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 30,359 Shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 635,955 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 30,359 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Analog Devices worth $135,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Analog Devices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. WBH Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 1,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Services boosted its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 3,730 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Analog Devices by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.81% of the company’s stock.

Analog Devices Price Performance

Shares of ADI opened at $220.22 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.25 billion, a PE ratio of 66.94, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $213.95 and its 200-day moving average is $219.56. Analog Devices, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $182.57 and a fifty-two week high of $244.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The semiconductor company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Analog Devices had a net margin of 17.35% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The company’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

Analog Devices declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Analog Devices’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 111.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.49, for a total transaction of $2,154,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,737,116.67. This trade represents a 31.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Analog Devices from $252.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $220.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Analog Devices from $216.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Analog Devices from $270.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Analog Devices currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.52.

Analog Devices Company Profile

Analog Devices, Inc designs, manufactures, tests, and markets integrated circuits (ICs), software, and subsystems products in the United States, rest of North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, and rest of Asia. The company provides data converter products, which translate real-world analog signals into digital data, as well as translates digital data into analog signals; power management and reference products for power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing, and energy management applications in the automotive, communications, industrial, and consumer markets; and power ICs that include performance, integration, and software design simulation tools for accurate power supply designs.