Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,944,347 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 159,659 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 5.40% of Benchmark Electronics worth $86,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Benchmark Electronics by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,563 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Benchmark Electronics during the 1st quarter valued at about $136,000. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in Benchmark Electronics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $214,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of Benchmark Electronics by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,313 shares of the technology company's stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 4,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Benchmark Electronics by 3.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,845,204 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $145,405,000 after acquiring an additional 159,716 shares in the last quarter. 92.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BHE has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Benchmark Electronics from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Benchmark Electronics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Benchmark Electronics from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.33.

Benchmark Electronics Stock Performance

BHE stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $48.17. The company had a trading volume of 201,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 306,685. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $45.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.54. Benchmark Electronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.75 and a 12-month high of $52.57.

Benchmark Electronics (NYSE:BHE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.03. Benchmark Electronics had a net margin of 2.32% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $658.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $650.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Benchmark Electronics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Benchmark Electronics's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Benchmark Electronics's payout ratio is currently 39.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Rhonda R. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.98, for a total value of $281,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,991 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,254,617.18. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeff Benck sold 24,000 shares of Benchmark Electronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total value of $1,101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,173 shares in the company, valued at $19,469,540.70. This trade represents a 5.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,073 shares of company stock worth $1,685,497 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Benchmark Electronics

Benchmark Electronics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers product design, engineering services, technology solutions, and manufacturing services in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The company provides engineering services and technology solutions, including new product design, prototype, testing, and related engineering services; and custom testing and technology solutions, as well as automation equipment design and build services.