StockNews.com Upgrades Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

Littelfuse Price Performance

NASDAQ LFUS opened at $259.07 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $259.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.54. Littelfuse has a 12-month low of $212.80 and a 12-month high of $275.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $558.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.35 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.91%. Littelfuse’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Littelfuse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total value of $2,391,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total value of $353,284.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,358,522.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total transaction of $2,391,396.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,369,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,028 shares of company stock worth $4,356,035. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Littelfuse

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 16,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,249,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Littelfuse by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Littelfuse by 21.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 14.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 70.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors.