Howard Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Key Points

• Howard Capital Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Analog Devices, Inc. by 13.3%, now owning 12,473 shares worth $2.5 million after selling 1,911 shares.
• GAMMA Investing LLC made a significant increase in its position, raising ownership by 25,460.1% to 2.2 million shares, worth $446 million.
• Analog Devices reported $1.85 EPS last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.99 per share with a yield of 1.72%.

Howard Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,473 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,911 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Analog Devices were worth $2,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Analog Devices by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,612,183 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,248,971,000 after acquiring an additional 247,737 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Analog Devices by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,450,018 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,582,831,000 after purchasing an additional 61,390 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Analog Devices by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,521,162 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,173,026,000 after purchasing an additional 427,328 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Analog Devices by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,715,313 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $789,356,000 after purchasing an additional 181,309 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Analog Devices by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,333,615 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $708,260,000 after purchasing an additional 668,023 shares during the period. 86.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Analog Devices news, Director Ray Stata sold 3,125 shares of Analog Devices stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.23, for a total value of $747,593.75. Following the sale, the director owned 167,571 shares in the company, valued at $40,088,010.33. The trade was a 1.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analog Devices Trading Down 2.8%

NASDAQ ADI traded down $6.48 on Thursday, reaching $224.63. 4,943,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,092,246. The business's fifty day moving average price is $231.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Analog Devices, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.65 and a fifty-two week high of $247.73.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.15. Analog Devices had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 18.65%. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Analog Devices, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analog Devices Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Analog Devices's payout ratio is currently 107.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ADI. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Analog Devices from $248.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Analog Devices from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Cfra Research lowered Analog Devices from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Analog Devices from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $290.00 price target (up from $260.00) on shares of Analog Devices in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $258.89.

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.