StockNews.com Lowers Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) to Hold

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

LFUS has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.75.

Littelfuse Trading Down 2.2 %

Littelfuse stock traded down $5.59 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $253.02. The stock had a trading volume of 99,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 131,154. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $256.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $252.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 2.42. Littelfuse has a 52 week low of $212.80 and a 52 week high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $558.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $540.35 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.12 EPS. Analysts forecast that Littelfuse will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Littelfuse news, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total value of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,358,522.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,358,522.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,295,683.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,328 shares of company stock valued at $4,437,986. Insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Littelfuse

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,679,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $649,442,000 after buying an additional 17,119 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 13.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 501,504 shares of the technology company's stock worth $128,179,000 after purchasing an additional 58,529 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 2.4% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 444,654 shares of the technology company's stock worth $113,649,000 after purchasing an additional 10,406 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 13.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 419,586 shares of the technology company's stock worth $107,244,000 after purchasing an additional 49,588 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Littelfuse in the second quarter worth approximately $100,662,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.