Morgan Stanley Upgrades Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) to “Overweight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $225.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $176.00.

ADI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Analog Devices in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Analog Devices from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Analog Devices from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Analog Devices from $200.00 to $210.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Analog Devices currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $205.46.

Analog Devices Price Performance

Shares of ADI opened at $183.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average is $171.74 and its 200-day moving average is $180.78. Analog Devices has a fifty-two week low of $154.99 and a fifty-two week high of $200.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.52 by ($0.03). Analog Devices had a net margin of 29.23% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. Analog Devices’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Analog Devices will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

Analog Devices Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 5th were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 1st. Analog Devices’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.74%.

Insider Activity at Analog Devices

In other news, CEO Vincent Roche sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.60, for a total transaction of $1,826,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,713 shares in the company, valued at $12,912,193.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Markel Corp boosted its stake in Analog Devices by 1.4% in the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,077,821 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $178,034,000 after buying an additional 15,150 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Analog Devices in the first quarter worth approximately $82,000. United Bank boosted its stake in Analog Devices by 24.7% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 6,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 1,315 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Analog Devices by 34.7% in the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Analog Devices by 14.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 116,085 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,175,000 after purchasing an additional 14,718 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.55% of the company’s stock.

About Analog Devices

Analog Devices, Inc designs, manufactures, tests, and markets integrated circuits (ICs), software, and subsystems that leverage analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing technologies. 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 high-end consumer markets; and power ICs that include performance, integration, and software design simulation tools for accurate power supply designs.