Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Oppenheimer raised Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Littelfuse currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.00.

Littelfuse Stock Up 1.2 %

LFUS stock opened at $242.51 on Wednesday. Littelfuse has a 1-year low of $222.73 and a 1-year high of $275.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $237.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.70. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.22%.

Insider Transactions at Littelfuse

In other news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total value of $174,314.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $773,207.10. This represents a 18.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Littelfuse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Littelfuse during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Littelfuse by 525.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Littelfuse by 181.0% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.