Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock Position Boosted by Calamos Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Calamos Advisors more than doubled its Amphenol stake in the third quarter, adding 382,336 shares to reach 751,941 shares valued at about $63.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 97.01% of the stock.
• Amphenol beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $0.80 versus $0.73 expected and revenue of $10.23 billion, up 65.1% year over year. Its board also authorized up to $4 billion in share repurchases.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is “Buy,” with an average price target of $108.32. The company lowered its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.15 per share, while CEO Richard Norwitt sold about 800,000 shares.

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 103.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 751,941 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 382,336 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Amphenol were worth $63,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in 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 valued at $2,898,248,000 after buying an additional 15,908,901 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 24.2% during 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. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Amphenol during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,600,531,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Amphenol by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 7,900,956 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $666,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Amphenol by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,720,515 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $313,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874,988 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APH has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Amphenol from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $112.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Amphenol from $175.00 to $90.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Amphenol from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amphenol has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $108.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphenol

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

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of APH stock traded up $3.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.67. 17,223,336 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,732,441. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $184.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $81.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.53. Amphenol Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $59.01 and a fifty-two week high of $89.93.

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

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

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

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

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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