Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,519 Shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS - Free Report) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,922 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 10,519 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Plexus worth $18,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PLXS. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Plexus during the 1st quarter valued at about $515,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Plexus by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,515,866 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $333,374,000 after purchasing an additional 74,988 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Plexus by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 81,817 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,758,000 after acquiring an additional 15,046 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Plexus by 269.9% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,268 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 5,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Plexus by 68.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 66,261 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 26,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Plexus in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a "sector weight" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Plexus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $133.50.

Plexus Stock Performance

Shares of PLXS stock traded down $1.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $151.99. 40,399 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 131,472. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $138.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.33 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Plexus Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $90.18 and a fifty-two week high of $169.41.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. Plexus had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The business's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Plexus Corp. will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Plexus

In other Plexus news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,113 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total transaction of $448,863.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,093,223.37. The trade was a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Oliver K. Mihm sold 5,691 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.06, for a total value of $950,738.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,271,870.10. The trade was a 22.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,973 shares of company stock worth $5,411,746. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Plexus

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.