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

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 133,922 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 10,519 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.49% of Plexus worth $18,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Plexus by 102.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,723 shares of the technology company's stock worth $782,000 after buying an additional 2,899 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Plexus by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 653,759 shares of the technology company's stock worth $89,392,000 after acquiring an additional 4,926 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its holdings in shares of Plexus by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,168,512 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,457,000 after purchasing an additional 59,465 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Plexus by 139.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,786 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,669,000 after purchasing an additional 28,406 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Plexus in the third quarter valued at $286,000. 94.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PLXS. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Plexus in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a "sector weight" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Plexus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $147.25.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of PLXS traded down $3.86 on Friday, hitting $157.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 90,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 142,578. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $157.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.18. Plexus Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $90.18 and a fifty-two week high of $170.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 39.35 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.30. Plexus had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 2.82%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Plexus Corp. will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 5,045 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.13, for a total value of $722,090.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,521,284.26. This trade represents a 17.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Oliver K. Mihm sold 5,691 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,585 shares in the company, valued at $3,271,870.10. This trade represents a 22.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,591 shares of company stock valued at $5,143,375. Insiders own 1.76% of the company's stock.

Plexus 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.