Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 9,479 Shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 268,498 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,479 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.08% of Littelfuse worth $71,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. CWM LLC increased its stake in Littelfuse by 410.7% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Littelfuse by 70.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Littelfuse by 275.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Littelfuse in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Littelfuse by 28.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total value of $2,391,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at $16,369,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.65, for a total transaction of $574,293.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,383,971.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LFUS. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.00.

Littelfuse Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LFUS opened at $257.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $256.18 and its 200-day moving average is $255.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.55. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 52 week low of $222.91 and a 52 week high of $275.58.

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

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

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.