Kera Capital Partners Inc. Makes New $309,000 Investment in Sensata Technologies Holding plc (NYSE:ST)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Sensata Technologies Holding plc (NYSE:ST - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,719 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 738.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 931 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Sensata Technologies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Sensata Technologies by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,026 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Sensata Technologies by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,523 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Sensata Technologies by 524.8% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,768 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Sensata Technologies from $27.00 to $21.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Sensata Technologies from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Sensata Technologies from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Sensata Technologies from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Sensata Technologies from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sensata Technologies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.08.

Sensata Technologies Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of ST traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,633,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,709,933. Sensata Technologies Holding plc has a fifty-two week low of $17.32 and a fifty-two week high of $42.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.06. Sensata Technologies had a return on equity of 17.54% and a net margin of 3.27%. The firm had revenue of $911.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $878.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sensata Technologies Holding plc will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sensata Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Sensata Technologies's payout ratio is currently 59.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrew C. Teich acquired 9,925 shares of Sensata Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.19 per share, for a total transaction of $250,010.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,117 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,737.23. This trade represents a 31.82% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company's stock.

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.