Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 426 Shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Analog Devices were worth $3,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Hawaii raised its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 4.8% during the third quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 2.8% during the third quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Amarillo National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 3.6% during the third quarter. Amarillo National Bank now owns 1,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 12,509 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,658,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 86.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $230.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $235.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Maxim Group initiated coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Friday, February 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Analog Devices news, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of Analog Devices 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 $4,737,116.67. The trade was a 31.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analog Devices Stock Performance

ADI opened at $238.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.49 billion, a PE ratio of 76.09, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.04. Analog Devices, Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.57 and a twelve month high of $247.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $215.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Analog Devices had a net margin of 16.75% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Analog Devices’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 1.66%. Analog Devices’s payout ratio is 117.20%.

Analog Devices announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.