Panagora Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,376 Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,376 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Littelfuse by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Littelfuse by 11.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 270,294 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,085,000 after purchasing an additional 27,938 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Littelfuse by 56.2% in the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 58,897 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,053,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Littelfuse by 10.3% in the second quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,885 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new stake in Littelfuse during the second quarter valued at approximately $100,662,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

Littelfuse stock opened at $257.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $258.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Littelfuse, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.80 and a twelve month high of $275.58. The company has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $558.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $540.35 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Littelfuse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Baird R W upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.75.

Insider Transactions at Littelfuse

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,295,683.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total transaction of $2,391,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 300 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $81,951.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at $16,295,683.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,892 shares of company stock worth $4,084,701. Insiders own 2.30% 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.