Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) Reaches New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $170.07 and last traded at $167.94, with a volume of 195485 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Plexus from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Plexus in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a "sector weight" rating for the company. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Plexus currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $147.25.

Plexus Stock Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.54 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $150.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.51.

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

Insider Transactions at Plexus

In other Plexus news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,113 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $448,863.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,093,223.37. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael J. Running sold 539 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.87, for a total value of $84,013.93. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,030 shares in the company, valued at $160,546.10. The trade was a 34.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,591 shares of company stock worth $5,143,375 in the last quarter. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Plexus

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its stake in shares of Plexus by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,109,047 shares of the technology company's stock worth $217,611,000 after acquiring an additional 7,245 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Plexus during the third quarter valued at about $899,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Plexus by 3.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 200,186 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,367,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its stake in shares of Plexus by 62.6% in the third quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 13,346 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $826,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.45% of the company's stock.

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.