Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 494 Shares of Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE) by 8.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,431 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Benchmark Electronics were worth $241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Benchmark Electronics by 65.7% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 686 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Benchmark Electronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. CWM LLC grew its position in Benchmark Electronics by 81.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Benchmark Electronics by 172.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,379 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Benchmark Electronics by 125.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeff Benck sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total transaction of $1,101,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,469,540.70. This represents a 5.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Rhonda R. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.98, for a total value of $281,880.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,254,617.18. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BHE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Benchmark Electronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Benchmark Electronics from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.33.

Benchmark Electronics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BHE opened at $48.05 on Friday. Benchmark Electronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.75 and a fifty-two week high of $52.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94 and a beta of 0.97.

Benchmark Electronics (NYSE:BHE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.03. Benchmark Electronics had a net margin of 2.32% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Benchmark Electronics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from Benchmark Electronics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Benchmark Electronics’s payout ratio is 39.53%.

About Benchmark Electronics

Benchmark Electronics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers product design, engineering services, technology solutions, and manufacturing services in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The company provides engineering services and technology solutions, including new product design, prototype, testing, and related engineering services; and custom testing and technology solutions, as well as automation equipment design and build services.