Whipplewood Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 306 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Analog Devices by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,571,586 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,195,302,000 after buying an additional 106,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Analog Devices by 14.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,176,877 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,169,689,000 after buying an additional 1,189,940 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Analog Devices by 9.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,388,628 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,700,640,000 after buying an additional 665,149 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Analog Devices by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,981,475 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,058,364,000 after buying an additional 226,716 shares during the period. 86.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on ADI. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Analog Devices from $270.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Analog Devices from $250.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Lake Street Capital assumed coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Friday, February 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.41.

Analog Devices Trading Up 2.7 %

Analog Devices stock opened at $229.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $217.55 and its 200-day moving average is $221.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.93. Analog Devices, Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.57 and a 1 year high of $247.10. The company has a market cap of $113.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.19, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.04.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. Analog Devices had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This is a boost from Analog Devices’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.11%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.