Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Hits New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $190.84 and last traded at $196.63, with a volume of 289290 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Littelfuse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.00.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.42.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.04. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 5.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Analysts predict that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is 62.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 525.0% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Littelfuse by 181.0% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Littelfuse during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 548.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 221.0% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Company Profile

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.