J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Acquires New Holdings in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired 34,921 shares of Amphenol Corporation, valued at approximately $2.29 million, highlighting growing institutional interest in the electronics maker.
• Insider trading activity includes significant stock sales by executives, with VP David M. Silverman selling 100,000 shares and insider William J. Doherty selling 160,000 shares, indicative of shifting confidence in ownership levels.
• Amphenol recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, reflecting a 0.6% yield, and reported strong quarterly earnings with a net margin of 16.90% and revenue growth of 56.5% year-over-year.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 34,921 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in APH. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Amphenol by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 104,250,575 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $7,240,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,752 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Amphenol by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 58,911,813 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $4,091,426,000 after buying an additional 15,837,407 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Amphenol by 294.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,953,591 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,733,027,000 after buying an additional 18,619,417 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,065,802 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $907,420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,632 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Amphenol by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,057,928 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $629,073,000 after acquiring an additional 107,482 shares during the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider William J. Doherty sold 160,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $14,326,400.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David M. Silverman sold 100,000 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $8,909,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,625. This represents a 88.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 586,000 shares of company stock valued at $52,935,980 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company's stock.

Amphenol Stock Performance

Amphenol stock traded down $1.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $108.40. 1,454,430 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,524,329. The stock has a market cap of $132.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.42. Amphenol Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $56.45 and a fifty-two week high of $110.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.01 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 16.90% and a return on equity of 30.58%. The business's revenue was up 56.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Amphenol's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Amphenol from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Amphenol from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $104.92.

About Amphenol

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.