Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock: Bahl & Gaynor LLC Increases Position

Key Points

• Bahl & Gaynor increased its Amphenol stake by 115% in the third quarter, adding 927,799 shares to hold about 1.73 million shares valued at $146.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 97.01% of the stock.
• Amphenol reported quarterly earnings of $0.80 per share, beating the $0.73 consensus, while revenue rose 65.1% year over year to $10.23 billion.
• The company lowered its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.15 per share, while approving a $4 billion share repurchase plan that could cover up to 2% of outstanding shares.

Bahl & Gaynor LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 115.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,734,853 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 927,799 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor LLC owned 0.07% of Amphenol worth $146,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APH. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 24.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,281,059 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $12,107,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Amphenol by 10.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,579,919 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,923,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,248 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in Amphenol by 3,010.0% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 16,437,431 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,898,248,000 after purchasing an additional 15,908,901 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Amphenol by 4.5% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,703,604 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,710,939,000 after purchasing an additional 416,388 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Amphenol during the second quarter worth about $1,600,531,000. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amphenol Price Performance

Amphenol stock opened at $79.98 on Wednesday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $81.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.57. The company has a market capitalization of $197.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.27. Amphenol Corporation has a 1 year low of $59.01 and a 1 year high of $89.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.94.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 42.53%. The firm had revenue of $10.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a negative change from Amphenol's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol's payout ratio is currently 21.74%.

Amphenol declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $4 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the electronics maker to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Amphenol from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Amphenol from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Amphenol from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $108.32.

Insider Activity at Amphenol

In other news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $65,949,028.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,855,014 shares in the company, valued at $317,961,554.72. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation designs, manufactures and markets electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, interconnect systems, antennas and sensor products. Its offerings also include cable assemblies and related components used to transmit signals and power in electronic equipment and systems. The company serves customers in a range of markets, including communications and information technology, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, mobile devices and data networks. Its products are used in applications such as vehicles, communications infrastructure, commercial aircraft and industrial equipment.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding APH? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.