Norges Bank Invests $1.76 Billion in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 8,264,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,958,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADI. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Analog Devices in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Analog Devices in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Analog Devices by 63.2% in the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 142 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of Analog Devices in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Analog Devices during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Richard C. Puccio, Jr. sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.19, for a total transaction of $836,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 49,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,441,928.04. This represents a 7.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.12, for a total transaction of $2,091,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 64,918 shares in the company, valued at $13,575,652.16. The trade was a 13.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,684 shares of company stock valued at $7,746,500 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analog Devices Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADI opened at $210.53 on Thursday. Analog Devices, Inc. has a 12-month low of $182.57 and a 12-month high of $247.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $104.42 billion, a PE ratio of 67.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $216.98 and a 200 day moving average of $219.72.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Analog Devices had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 16.75%. Analog Devices’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Analog Devices declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 buy up to 9.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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 1.88%. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ADI shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Analog Devices from $230.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on Analog Devices from $250.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Analog Devices from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Analog Devices from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Lake Street Capital initiated coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a research report on Friday, February 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.41.

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.