Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 22,554 Shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 239,489 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,554 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Analog Devices were worth $50,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADI. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Analog Devices by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,571,586 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,195,302,000 after acquiring an additional 106,664 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Analog Devices by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,364,446 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,377,094,000 after buying an additional 135,838 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Analog Devices by 14.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,176,877 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,169,689,000 after buying an additional 1,189,940 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Analog Devices by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,388,628 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,700,640,000 after acquiring an additional 665,149 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,981,475 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,058,364,000 after acquiring an additional 226,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ADI shares. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Friday, February 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Analog Devices from $235.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Analog Devices from $252.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays cut 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Analog Devices currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.52.

Analog Devices Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADI opened at $241.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $119.89 billion, a PE ratio of 73.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.80. Analog Devices, Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.57 and a 52 week high of $244.14.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 17.35% and a return on equity of 9.01%. Analog Devices’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This is an increase from Analog Devices’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 111.85%.

Analog Devices declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 9.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Analog Devices news, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.49, for a total transaction of $2,154,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 21,983 shares in the company, valued at $4,737,116.67. The trade was a 31.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Analog Devices

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.