Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. (NYSE:ST) Shares Sold by Boston Partners

Key Points

• Boston Partners has reduced its stake in Sensata Technologies by 16.0%, selling over 1 million shares, and now holds approximately 3.75% of the company valued at $132 million.
• In the same quarter, other institutional investors made increases in their positions, with Signaturefd LLC significantly growing its stake by 515.5%.
• Sensata Technologies reported earnings of $0.87 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, but revenue declined 8.9% year-over-year to $943.38 million.

Boston Partners lowered its position in Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. (NYSE:ST - Free Report) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,479,835 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 1,047,106 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned 3.75% of Sensata Technologies worth $132,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,017,354 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $364,471,000 after purchasing an additional 465,878 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,767,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $267,621,000 after purchasing an additional 44,233 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,821,428 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $214,308,000 after purchasing an additional 2,088,161 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,808,186 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $159,143,000 after purchasing an additional 648,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 96.8% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,260,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $144,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,587,183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Sensata Technologies from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Sensata Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sensata Technologies from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Sensata Technologies from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sensata Technologies from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sensata Technologies has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.64.

Sensata Technologies Stock Performance

ST stock traded down $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,097,898 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,858,142. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 42.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. has a 1-year low of $17.32 and a 1-year high of $39.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Sensata Technologies had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 2.97%. The company had revenue of $943.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $928.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Sensata Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Sensata Technologies's payout ratio is 64.00%.

Insider Activity at Sensata Technologies

In related news, Director Andrew C. Teich bought 9,925 shares of Sensata Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.19 per share, with a total value of $250,010.75. Following the purchase, the director owned 41,117 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,737.23. This represents a 31.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Sensata Technologies

Sensata Technologies Holding plc develops, manufactures, and sells sensors and sensor-rich solutions, electrical protection components and systems, and other products used in mission-critical systems and applications in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Performance Sensing and Sensing Solutions.