Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS - Free Report) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $162.00 target price on the technology company's stock, down from their prior target price of $172.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on PLXS. Stifel Nicolaus set a $145.00 price target on shares of Plexus in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Plexus in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $155.67.

Plexus Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PLXS traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.70. 130,791 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 166,657. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $125.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.19. Plexus has a one year low of $99.79 and a one year high of $172.89. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16 and a beta of 0.83.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $980.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $980.07 million. Plexus had a net margin of 3.03% and a return on equity of 10.36%. Plexus's revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Plexus will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Plexus

In other Plexus news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.14, for a total transaction of $496,814.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,281,775.14. This represents a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael J. Running sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.62, for a total value of $173,275.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,276 shares in the company, valued at $176,879.12. This represents a 49.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,597 shares of company stock worth $2,066,030 over the last quarter. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plexus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plexus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Plexus by 134.0% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Plexus during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Plexus by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 320 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Plexus during the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.45% of the company's stock.

Plexus Company Profile

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.