Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Given “Hold” Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports.

LFUS has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Littelfuse from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Littelfuse in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a hold rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LFUS traded up $8.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $247.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 219,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 139,770. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 3.57. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.34, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.32. Littelfuse has a fifty-two week low of $212.80 and a fifty-two week high of $309.94.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.01. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $535.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $519.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Littelfuse will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is 29.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Littelfuse news, EVP Ryan K. Stafford sold 1,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.62, for a total transaction of $470,673.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,155 shares in the company, valued at $5,884,641.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Ryan K. Stafford sold 1,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.62, for a total transaction of $470,673.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,884,641.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.18, for a total value of $227,332.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,372,435.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,370 shares of company stock worth $1,064,413. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,662,648 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $712,418,000 after buying an additional 30,356 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Littelfuse in the fourth quarter worth $150,004,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Littelfuse by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 421,392 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $112,748,000 after purchasing an additional 19,435 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 6.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 414,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,610,000 after buying an additional 26,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 346,174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $92,627,000 after buying an additional 10,770 shares during 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.