Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock: Lyell Wealth Management LP Boosts Position

Key Points

• Lyell Wealth Management nearly doubled its Amphenol stake in the third quarter, adding 189,431 shares to reach 379,580 shares valued at about $32 million. Hedge funds and other institutions own 97.01% of the stock.
• Amphenol reported quarterly EPS of $0.80, beating the $0.73 consensus, while revenue of $10.23 billion exceeded estimates and rose 65.1% year over year.
• The company authorized a $4 billion share-repurchase plan but cut its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.15 per share. Analysts have a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $108.32.

Lyell Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 99.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379,580 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 189,431 shares during the period. Amphenol comprises 1.9% of Lyell Wealth Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Lyell Wealth Management LP's holdings in Amphenol were worth $31,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Associated Banc Corp acquired a new stake in Amphenol during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $424,000. Fischer Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 96.0% in the third quarter. Fischer Financial Services Inc. now owns 21,633 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 10,594 shares in the last quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 100.0% in the third quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 22,100 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 11,050 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 188.4% in the third quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 3,337 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Amphenol by 87.2% during the third quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 671,539 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $56,611,000 after acquiring an additional 312,764 shares during the period. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amphenol

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

Amphenol Price Performance

Amphenol stock opened at $71.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.54. The stock has a market cap of $177.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27. Amphenol Corporation has a 12-month low of $59.01 and a 12-month high of $89.93.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a return on equity of 42.53% and a net margin of 17.95%. The firm had revenue of $10.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Amphenol's revenue for the quarter was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the electronics maker to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. This is a negative change from Amphenol's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Amphenol's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APH. Bank of America increased their price objective on Amphenol from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Evercore set a $100.00 price target on Amphenol in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $116.00 price target (up from $102.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.32.

Amphenol Profile

Amphenol Corporation NYSE: APH is a global manufacturer of electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, interconnect systems and related products. Its portfolio includes cable assemblies, sensors, antennas, backplane systems, radio-frequency components and other specialized electronic hardware.

The company serves customers across a range of industries, including automotive, aerospace and defense, information technology and data communications, industrial, mobile networks, commercial aerospace, medical and other markets.

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