Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,101,368 Shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) by 73.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,591,323 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,101,368 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Amphenol worth $168,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in Amphenol by 61.1% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 199,758 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $13,458,000 after acquiring an additional 75,753 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association boosted its position in shares of Amphenol by 102.0% during the second quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 31,980 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 16,149 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 268,219 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $17,477,000 after buying an additional 90,450 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Amphenol by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 106,899 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,966,000 after buying an additional 19,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP raised its stake in Amphenol by 315.1% during the 3rd quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 294,800 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $19,209,000 after buying an additional 223,784 shares during the period. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on APH shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Amphenol from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Amphenol from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Amphenol from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Amphenol from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.63.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of NYSE APH opened at $70.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $71.03 and a 200-day moving average of $67.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.24. Amphenol Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.78.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.05. Amphenol had a return on equity of 24.68% and a net margin of 15.40%. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amphenol Co. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphenol

In other Amphenol news, insider Peter Straub sold 132,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total transaction of $9,783,840.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $10,314,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 218,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,997,656.16. This represents a 40.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,842,672 shares of company stock worth $128,858,080 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amphenol Profile

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.