HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Takes $348,000 Position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,301 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LFUS. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Littelfuse in the fourth quarter valued at $4,511,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,847,000 after acquiring an additional 3,612 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Littelfuse by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,662,648 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $712,418,000 after acquiring an additional 30,356 shares during the last quarter. Dean Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 4,770 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 96,942 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,938,000 after purchasing an additional 4,987 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

NASDAQ LFUS opened at $262.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $248.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.60. Littelfuse, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.80 and a twelve month high of $309.94.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.01. Littelfuse had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 10.21%. The business had revenue of $535.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.08 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is 29.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Littelfuse news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total transaction of $326,576.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,657.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Ryan K. Stafford sold 2,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.33, for a total transaction of $568,796.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,263,936.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total value of $326,576.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,158,657.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,638 shares of company stock valued at $2,463,552. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LFUS has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Littelfuse in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Baird R W raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Littelfuse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Littelfuse from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.00.

Littelfuse 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.