Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock: Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Grows Stake

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management increased its Amphenol stake by 94.4% in the third quarter, adding 503,629 shares to hold about 1.04 million shares valued at $87.4 million.
• Amphenol beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.80 versus $0.73 expected and revenue of $10.23 billion, up 65.1% year over year. Analysts’ consensus rating was Buy, with an average price target of $108.32.
• The company cut its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.15 per share, while authorizing a $4 billion share buyback.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 94.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,037,269 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 503,629 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's holdings in Amphenol were worth $87,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 worth $12,107,146,000 after acquiring an additional 13,884,641 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Amphenol by 10.5% in 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 buying an additional 1,578,248 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 3,010.0% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 16,437,431 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,898,248,000 after acquiring an additional 15,908,901 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 4.5% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 416,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amphenol during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,600,531,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Amphenol from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amphenol from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $108.32.

Amphenol Stock Up 8.4%

NYSE APH opened at $80.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.55. Amphenol Corporation has a twelve month low of $59.01 and a twelve month high of $89.93. The stock has a market cap of $199.74 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 22nd. This is a drop from Amphenol's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Amphenol's payout ratio is 21.74%.

Amphenol announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 28th that allows the company to buy back $4 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the electronics maker to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphenol

In other news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the business'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 transaction of $65,949,028.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,855,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

About Amphenol

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.

Founded in 1932, Amphenol has grown into a global manufacturer serving customers across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

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