Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $103.20 Million Stock Position in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) by 115.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 174,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,347 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Monolithic Power Systems were worth $103,200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 6.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,586 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $16,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 8.6% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 108,274 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $100,099,000 after acquiring an additional 8,600 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 29.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,047 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Monolithic Power Systems by 1,042.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,936 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,679 shares during the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $700.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $600.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $660.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems from $900.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $880.00 target price on shares of Monolithic Power Systems in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Monolithic Power Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $866.17.

Monolithic Power Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MPWR opened at $690.77 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $631.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $749.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.70 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 80.95% and a return on equity of 22.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monolithic Power Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.56 per share. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 payout ratio is presently 13.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monolithic Power Systems news, CFO Theodore Blegen sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,066,400. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maurice Sciammas sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.98, for a total transaction of $4,913,860.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,242,209.70. The trade was a 30.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

About Monolithic Power Systems

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.