GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 5,050 Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP has acquired a new position in Littelfuse, Inc., purchasing 5,050 shares valued at approximately $994,000 during the first quarter.
• Littelfuse reported an EPS of $2.85 for the most recent quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $2.35, and its revenue increased by 9.8% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.75 per share, which reflects a 1.2% dividend yield and is payable to stockholders of record on August 21st.

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,050 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,047,025 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $246,732,000 after buying an additional 11,958 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 763,396 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $179,895,000 after buying an additional 55,835 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 442,554 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,287,000 after buying an additional 22,287 shares in the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 441,972 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,151,000 after buying an additional 18,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 347,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $81,856,000 after buying an additional 9,705 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Littelfuse Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of LFUS stock traded down $6.42 on Friday, reaching $250.91. 279,644 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 190,788. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.10 and a 52 week high of $275.56. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 52.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $226.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.61.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.50. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 5.30%. The firm had revenue of $613.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $571.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.97 EPS. Littelfuse's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Littelfuse's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio is 58.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Baird R W cut Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.67.

Insider Activity

In other Littelfuse news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,477 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.50, for a total transaction of $291,707.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 5,975 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,180,062.50. The trade was a 19.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors.