Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Short Interest Down 7.6% in October

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 403,800 shares, a decrease of 7.6% from the September 30th total of 437,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 108,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

LFUS stock traded down $6.64 on Thursday, reaching $244.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 117,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 129,917. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $258.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $254.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 2.42. The company has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.27. Littelfuse has a 52 week low of $213.01 and a 52 week high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $567.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The business's revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 8.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total value of $2,391,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total value of $2,391,396.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total value of $353,284.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,358,522.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Littelfuse

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Littelfuse by 1.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,436 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in Littelfuse by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 16,624 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,249,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 1.4% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 21.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 323 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LFUS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.00.

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.