Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $285.00.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Littelfuse Price Performance

NASDAQ:LFUS opened at $243.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $254.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.27. Littelfuse has a 12 month low of $222.91 and a 12 month high of $275.58. The firm has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $567.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 8.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Littelfuse will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total value of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,358,522.44. This trade represents a 20.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.65, for a total value of $574,293.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at $16,383,971.10. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Littelfuse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Littelfuse by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 6,522 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 6.5% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 719 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Littelfuse by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,436 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 16,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,249,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted 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 buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.