Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Short Interest Down 7.6% in October

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 403,800 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the September 30th total of 437,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 108,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen lifted 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. Oppenheimer raised shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.00.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

NASDAQ LFUS opened at $244.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $258.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 3.50. Littelfuse has a fifty-two week low of $213.01 and a fifty-two week high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $567.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Littelfuse will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total transaction of $2,391,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,369,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total transaction of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,358,522.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974 over the last three months. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Littelfuse

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 50.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 89,284 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Littelfuse by 3.4% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 6,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,491,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 42.8% in the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,802 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the first quarter worth about $273,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.