Brokerages Set TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) Target Price at $159.55

TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $159.36.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on TEL shares. Wolfe Research raised TE Connectivity from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com raised TE Connectivity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $189.00 to $179.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on TE Connectivity from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, HSBC cut TE Connectivity from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $137.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Trading of TE Connectivity

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,280,632 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $944,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304,199 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 31.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,004,540 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $445,603,000 after acquiring an additional 712,228 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TE Connectivity by 26.0% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,367,650 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $508,481,000 after purchasing an additional 694,917 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 238.4% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 719,354 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $108,212,000 after purchasing an additional 506,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 43.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,155,426 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $174,955,000 after buying an additional 347,315 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.43% of the company’s stock.

TE Connectivity Price Performance

NYSE:TEL opened at $147.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. TE Connectivity has a 12-month low of $128.52 and a 12-month high of $159.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $150.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.32.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The electronics maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.95. TE Connectivity had a return on equity of 18.48% and a net margin of 20.15%. The business had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that TE Connectivity will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

TE Connectivity declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the electronics maker to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaPacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions.