Analog Devices Ramps Up Dividend By 11%; Street Is Bullish

Analog Devices announced an 11% hike in its quarterly dividend to $0.69 per share. Notably, the semiconductor company has paid dividends for 69 quarters in a row, and including the recent hike, has now raised its dividends for the eighteenth consecutive year.

Don't Miss our Black Friday Offers:

Unlock your investing potential with TipRanks Premium - Now At 40% OFF!
Make smarter investments with weekly expert stock picks from the Smart Investor Newsletter

Analog Devices (ADI) said that the new quarterly dividend will be paid on Mar. 9 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 26. Its annual dividend of $2.76 per share now reflects a dividend yield of 1.7%.

The company’s CEO Vincent Roche said, “Our robust cash generation and free cash flow margin places us in the top 10% of companies in the S&P 500, and we remain committed to returning 100% of our free cash flow to shareholders.” (See Analog Devices stock analysis on TipRanks)

Analog’s dividend hike comes ahead of its 1Q results, which the company is scheduled to report on Feb. 17 before the market opens.

RBC Capital analyst Mitch Steves raised the stock’s price target to $180 (12% upside potential) from $174 and maintained a Buy rating on Feb. 16. In a note to investors, Steves said that the 1Q results should be “solid” owing to its “lean” channel inventories. The analyst expects continued robust demand for its products and sees further upside for the stock in the second half of the year.

Overall, the majority of the Street also has a bullish outlook on the stock, with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 16 Buys and 2 Holds. The average analyst price target of $167.47 implies an upside potential of about 4.4% to current levels. Shares have gained about 39.2% over the past year.