Montag & Caldwell LLC Acquires New Position in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)

Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,382 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,055,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in TE Connectivity during the fourth quarter valued at about $909,598,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in TE Connectivity by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,378,995 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $4,629,225,000 after purchasing an additional 4,029,596 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of TE Connectivity in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $508,199,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,064,822 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $581,148,000 after buying an additional 1,702,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi acquired a new position in TE Connectivity in the 4th quarter valued at $159,992,000. 91.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TEL shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $150.00 to $147.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded TE Connectivity from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on TE Connectivity from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of TE Connectivity from $169.00 to $146.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Shadrak W. Kroeger sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.77, for a total transaction of $3,669,250.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,812,497.52. This represents a 49.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

TE Connectivity Price Performance

NYSE TEL traded up $2.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $129.23. 2,517,669 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,714,609. TE Connectivity Ltd. has a 1-year low of $116.30 and a 1-year high of $159.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $142.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.36. The company has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.25.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The electronics maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.92 billion. TE Connectivity had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 12.10%. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that TE Connectivity Ltd. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

TE Connectivity Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from TE Connectivity's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. TE Connectivity's payout ratio is presently 45.37%.

TE Connectivity Profile

TE Connectivity Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaPacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions.