Diodes Incorporated (NASDAQ:DIOD) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in shares of Diodes Incorporated (NASDAQ:DIOD) by 13.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,029 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Diodes were worth $583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DIOD. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Diodes by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Diodes in the fourth quarter worth about $7,063,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Diodes by 789.7% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Diodes by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,772 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Diodes by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 82,419 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,083,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the period. 99.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diodes Stock Down 1.6%

DIOD opened at $53.92 on Friday. Diodes Incorporated has a twelve month low of $32.93 and a twelve month high of $72.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.22. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 39.36 and a beta of 1.47.

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.08. Diodes had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 2.98%. The firm had revenue of $366.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Diodes Incorporated will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diodes declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Diodes in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Diodes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $55.00.

Diodes Company Profile

Diodes Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and supplies application-specific standard products in the broad discrete, logic, analog, and mixed-signal semiconductor markets worldwide. The company offers discrete semiconductor products, such as MOSFETs, SiC MOSFETs; data line protection, power line protection, thyristers, USB Type-C protection, and transient voltage suppressors; Schottky, small signal switching, Zener, and SiC diodes; bridges, super barrier, Schottky, Schottky bridge, and fast/ultra-fast rectifiers; and bipolar, avalanche, gate driver, and pre-bias transistors.