Boston Trust Walden Corp Purchases 100,898 Shares of Amphenol Corporation $APH

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden increased its Amphenol stake by 106.2% in the third quarter, buying 100,898 shares and ending the period with 195,882 shares valued at about $16.5 million.
• Amphenol beat quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $0.80 per share 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 reduced its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.15 per share, while authorizing a $4 billion share repurchase program.

Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) by 106.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,882 shares of the electronics maker's stock after purchasing an additional 100,898 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Amphenol were worth $16,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its position in Amphenol by 3,010.0% during the second 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Amphenol by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,281,059 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $12,107,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,641 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amphenol during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,600,531,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $666,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 101.6% during the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,720,515 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $313,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874,988 shares during the period. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on Amphenol in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Amphenol in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $108.32.

Amphenol Stock Performance

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

Amphenol (NYSE:APH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 42.53%. The company had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period 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. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a drop from Amphenol's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol's payout ratio is 21.74%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

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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