Ascent Group LLC Grows Position in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 16.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 68,002 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 9,831 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Amphenol were worth $4,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Amphenol during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,763,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Amphenol by 108.9% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,564,252 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $386,437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,900,024 shares in the last quarter. Baer Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amphenol during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,972,000. North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 264,679 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $18,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Amphenol in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,117,000. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Amphenol from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Fox Advisors upgraded shares of Amphenol from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. US Capital Advisors set a $85.00 price target on shares of Amphenol in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Amphenol from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up from $78.00) on shares of Amphenol in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard Adam Norwitt sold 2,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.73, for a total transaction of $151,460,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,002,507 shares in the company, valued at $151,649,855.11. This represents a 49.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total value of $30,372,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,593,000. This represents a 80.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,178,500 shares of company stock valued at $241,903,805. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amphenol Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of APH traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $88.88. 7,739,970 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,483,153. The stock's 50-day moving average is $73.92 and its 200-day moving average is $71.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.37. Amphenol Co. has a fifty-two week low of $54.77 and a fifty-two week high of $91.08. The company has a market cap of $107.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.11. Amphenol had a net margin of 15.92% and a return on equity of 25.67%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amphenol Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Amphenol's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.04%.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.