Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Position in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) by 26.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,570,492 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,269,024 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Analog Devices were worth $758,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Analog Devices by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 917,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $194,988,000 after buying an additional 284,965 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Analog Devices by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,450,018 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,582,831,000 after acquiring an additional 61,390 shares during the last quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC increased its position in Analog Devices by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Analog Devices by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 433,696 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $92,150,000 after purchasing an additional 79,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in Analog Devices by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. 86.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analog Devices Trading Down 9.0 %

NASDAQ:ADI opened at $164.60 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $213.22 and a 200 day moving average of $218.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Analog Devices, Inc. has a 52 week low of $159.66 and a 52 week high of $247.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.42, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.06.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Analog Devices had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Analog Devices’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analog Devices declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 18th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 9.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. This is an increase from Analog Devices’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Analog Devices news, CFO Richard C. Puccio, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of Analog Devices stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.19, for a total transaction of $836,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,441,928.04. The trade was a 7.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vivek Jain sold 12,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $2,663,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,175 shares in the company, valued at $9,066,750. The trade was a 22.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,684 shares of company stock valued at $5,591,600. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Analog Devices from $250.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Williams Trading set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Lake Street Capital began coverage on Analog Devices in a research report on Friday, February 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Analog Devices has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $255.41.

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.