Nicholas Company Inc. Buys 14,673 Shares of Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Nicholas Company Inc. raised its stake in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) by 38.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,093 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,673 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Analog Devices were worth $11,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 106,664 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Analog Devices by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,364,446 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,377,094,000 after buying an additional 135,838 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Analog Devices by 9.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,388,628 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,700,640,000 after acquiring an additional 665,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,058,364,000 after acquiring an additional 226,716 shares during the last quarter. 86.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Analog Devices

In other news, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,575,652.16. This trade represents a 13.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ADI. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Williams Trading set a $245.00 target price on shares of Analog Devices in a research note on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Analog Devices from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Analog Devices in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Analog Devices in a research note on Friday, February 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.41.

Analog Devices Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Analog Devices stock opened at $208.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $103.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.48, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $218.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.58. Analog Devices, Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.57 and a 1 year high of $247.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during 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 revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 buy 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.

Analog Devices Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This is a boost from Analog Devices’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.11%.

Analog Devices Profile

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.