Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Upgraded to Outperform by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $310.00 price target on the technology company's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.00.

Littelfuse Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Littelfuse stock traded up $5.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching $262.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 74,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 130,780. Littelfuse has a 52-week low of $212.80 and a 52-week high of $275.58. The company has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.27. The firm's 50-day moving average is $258.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $558.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $540.35 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The firm's revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Littelfuse will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. This is a boost from Littelfuse's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.07%.

Insider Transactions at Littelfuse

In related news, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $1,358,522.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 3,786 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.92, for a total value of $1,037,061.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at $16,340,423.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,028 shares of company stock valued at $4,356,035. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LFUS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,662,648 shares of the technology company's stock worth $712,418,000 after acquiring an additional 30,356 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the first quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Littelfuse in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Littelfuse by 50.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $872,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by 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.