Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Short Interest Update

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 314,700 shares, a drop of 22.1% from the October 15th total of 403,800 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 109,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

LFUS stock traded down $8.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $241.09. 128,600 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 128,364. Littelfuse has a twelve month low of $222.91 and a twelve month high of $275.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $256.27.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.62. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The business had revenue of $567.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. Littelfuse's quarterly revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.65, for a total transaction of $574,293.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,383,971.10. The trade was a 3.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total transaction of $353,284.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,358,522.44. The trade was a 20.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,242 shares of company stock valued at $3,318,974 over the last 90 days. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LFUS. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 6.9% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,985 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,897 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,910,000 after acquiring an additional 3,343 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Littelfuse by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,679,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $649,442,000 after acquiring an additional 17,119 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the first quarter worth approximately $2,454,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 28.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Littelfuse has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $285.00.

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.

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