Essex Financial Services Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lessened its position in Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,508 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 901 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Texas Instruments were worth $658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Texas Instruments by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,443 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Texas Instruments by 1.4% in the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,574 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 4.7% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 1,127 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in Texas Instruments by 1.1% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 4,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Texas Instruments by 2.9% during the third quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. 84.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on TXN shares. Mizuho cut their target price on Texas Instruments from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Texas Instruments in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Texas Instruments from $154.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Texas Instruments from $268.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Texas Instruments in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.20.

Texas Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Texas Instruments stock opened at $179.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 4.12 and a quick ratio of 2.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $188.96 and a 200 day moving average of $197.75. Texas Instruments Incorporated has a 12 month low of $155.46 and a 12 month high of $220.38.

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.10. Texas Instruments had a net margin of 30.68% and a return on equity of 28.08%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Texas Instruments Incorporated will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Texas Instruments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $1.36 per share. This represents a $5.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Texas Instruments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronald Kirk sold 10,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.33, for a total value of $2,142,894.87. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,912,295.59. This trade represents a 42.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark A. Blinn sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.71, for a total transaction of $106,618.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,117,379.07. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Analog and Embedded Processing segments. The Analog segment offers power products to manage power requirements across various voltage levels, including battery-management solutions, DC/DC switching regulators, AC/DC and isolated controllers and converters, power switches, linear regulators, voltage references, and lighting products.