Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 93,347 Shares of Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) by 115.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 174,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,347 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.36% of Monolithic Power Systems worth $103,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MPWR. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 433.3% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 32 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Monolithic Power Systems by 990.9% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monolithic Power Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monolithic Power Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Monolithic Power Systems by 410.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 51 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Theodore Blegen sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,444 shares in the company, valued at $32,066,400. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Maurice Sciammas sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.98, for a total value of $4,913,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,242,209.70. The trade was a 30.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on Monolithic Power Systems from $700.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Monolithic Power Systems from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Monolithic Power Systems from $600.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Monolithic Power Systems from $900.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $660.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $866.17.

Monolithic Power Systems Trading Up 0.9 %

MPWR stock opened at $690.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $631.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $749.13. The stock has a market cap of $33.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $546.71 and a 1 year high of $959.64.

Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.01 by ($0.84). Monolithic Power Systems had a return on equity of 22.49% and a net margin of 80.95%. On average, analysts forecast that Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monolithic Power Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.56 per share. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Monolithic Power Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Monolithic Power Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 13.60%.

Monolithic Power Systems Profile

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of semiconductor-based power electronics solutions for the storage and computing, automotive, enterprise data, consumer, communications, and industrial markets. The company provides direct current (DC) to DC integrated circuits (ICs) that are used to convert and control voltages of various electronic systems, such as cloud-based CPU servers, server artificial intelligence applications, storage applications, commercial notebooks, digital cockpit, power sources, home appliances, 4G and 5G infrastructure, and satellite communications applications.