StockNews.com Upgrades Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.00.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

Shares of LFUS stock opened at $246.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $237.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.65. Littelfuse has a one year low of $222.73 and a one year high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04. Littelfuse had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 8.55%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Littelfuse news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total value of $174,314.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $773,207.10. This trade represents a 18.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Littelfuse in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 525.0% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 181.0% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Littelfuse in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.