Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its position in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) by 66.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,240 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 49,197 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Monolithic Power Systems were worth $14,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 73.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 776,026 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $459,174,000 after buying an additional 328,203 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Monolithic Power Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $140,795,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Monolithic Power Systems by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,334,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,230,626,000 after acquiring an additional 133,838 shares in the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 104.4% during the 3rd quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 200,490 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $185,353,000 after acquiring an additional 102,380 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Monolithic Power Systems by 115.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 174,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $103,200,000 after acquiring an additional 93,347 shares in the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maurice Sciammas sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.98, for a total transaction of $4,913,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,242,209.70. The trade was a 30.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Monolithic Power Systems Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Monolithic Power Systems stock opened at $601.44 on Friday. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $546.71 and a twelve month high of $959.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $638.03 and its 200 day moving average is $701.45. The company has a market cap of $28.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.03.

Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.01 by ($0.84). Monolithic Power Systems had a net margin of 80.95% and a return on equity of 20.36%. Sell-side analysts expect that Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monolithic Power Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.56 per share. This is an increase from Monolithic Power Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Monolithic Power Systems’s payout ratio is currently 16.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPWR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $660.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Monolithic Power Systems in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Monolithic Power Systems from $600.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $851.58.

Monolithic Power Systems Profile

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of semiconductor-based power electronics solutions for the storage and computing, automotive, enterprise data, consumer, communications, and industrial markets. The company provides direct current (DC) to DC integrated circuits (ICs) that are used to convert and control voltages of various electronic systems, such as cloud-based CPU servers, server artificial intelligence applications, storage applications, commercial notebooks, digital cockpit, power sources, home appliances, 4G and 5G infrastructure, and satellite communications applications.