Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PLXS. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Plexus in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Plexus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.50.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of PLXS opened at $156.65 on Monday. Plexus has a twelve month low of $90.18 and a twelve month high of $169.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.06 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.30. Plexus had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Plexus will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Plexus

In other Plexus news, COO Oliver K. Mihm sold 5,691 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.06, for a total transaction of $950,738.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,271,870.10. This trade represents a 22.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael J. Running sold 579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $89,125.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,569 shares in the company, valued at $241,516.17. The trade was a 26.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,552 shares of company stock valued at $5,250,872 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Plexus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 204.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 158,032 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,306,000 after purchasing an additional 106,103 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 8.8% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,366,000 after purchasing an additional 87,574 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,515,866 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $333,374,000 after purchasing an additional 74,988 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 2.8% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,168,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $296,457,000 after purchasing an additional 59,465 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Plexus by 158.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 82,575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,289,000 after acquiring an additional 50,564 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

About Plexus

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.