Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $280.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LFUS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Littelfuse Stock Down 1.1 %

Littelfuse stock opened at $249.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.61. Littelfuse has a one year low of $222.73 and a one year high of $275.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $248.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Littelfuse news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total transaction of $174,314.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $773,207.10. The trade was a 18.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 525.0% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 181.0% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Littelfuse

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.