Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. $MPWR Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) by 66.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 447,801 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 178,622 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Monolithic Power Systems were worth $412,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Monolithic Power Systems by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,074,033 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,591,998,000 after acquiring an additional 134,087 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Monolithic Power Systems by 0.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 863,228 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $794,723,000 after purchasing an additional 6,503 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 18.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 692,747 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $506,661,000 after purchasing an additional 105,721 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Monolithic Power Systems in the second quarter valued at $438,014,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Monolithic Power Systems by 14.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 556,587 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $512,416,000 after purchasing an additional 71,199 shares during the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Monolithic Power Systems

In other news, EVP Maurice Sciammas sold 200 shares of Monolithic Power Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,179.97, for a total transaction of $235,994.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,532,781.03. The trade was a 13.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deming Xiao sold 22,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.16, for a total transaction of $26,790,285.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,314,121.12. This represents a 8.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 98,550 shares of company stock worth $114,256,090 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MPWR has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Monolithic Power Systems from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $1,250.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Monolithic Power Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,218.42.

Monolithic Power Systems Stock Down 5.1%

NASDAQ MPWR opened at $1,023.16 on Friday. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $438.86 and a fifty-two week high of $1,256.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,087.09 and a 200-day moving average of $985.05. The stock has a market cap of $50.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.45.

Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The semiconductor company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $751.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $741.69 million. Monolithic Power Systems had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 22.07%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Monolithic Power Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Monolithic Power Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.56. Monolithic Power Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.98%.

Monolithic Power Systems Profile

Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR) is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies high-performance power management solutions for a broad range of electronic systems. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, the company focuses on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits that convert, regulate and monitor electrical power with an emphasis on efficiency, integration and power density.

MPS’s product portfolio includes DC‑DC switching regulators, power modules, power management ICs (PMICs), LED drivers, battery-management ICs, motor drivers, and AC‑DC power solutions.