Ariel Investments LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Ariel Investments LLC cut its position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 298,065 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 19,206 shares during the quarter. Ariel Investments LLC owned 1.20% of Littelfuse worth $70,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Littelfuse by 52.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,448 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,949 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Littelfuse during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $84,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,417 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,437,000 after buying an additional 2,188 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in Littelfuse by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,857 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $723,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LFUS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Baird R W lowered Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.25.

Littelfuse Stock Up 1.6 %

LFUS stock traded up $3.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $195.90. 228,895 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 156,675. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $189.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.14. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.53, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.30. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.10 and a 52-week high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The technology company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.37. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 5.16%. The company had revenue of $554.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $537.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors.