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

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

Several research analysts have weighed in on LFUS shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

Shares of LFUS opened at $249.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 55.36, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $237.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.72. Littelfuse has a 52 week low of $222.73 and a 52 week high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.02 EPS. Research analysts expect that Littelfuse will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In other news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total transaction of $174,314.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,105 shares in the company, valued at $773,207.10. The trade was a 18.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Littelfuse by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Littelfuse in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Littelfuse by 525.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Littelfuse by 181.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Littelfuse during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

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.