Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 254,247 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,890 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.03% of Littelfuse worth $50,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 548.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Littelfuse by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 312,535 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $73,649,000 after purchasing an additional 8,588 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Littelfuse by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 801 shares of the technology company's stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Littelfuse in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,892,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,188 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Baird R W lowered shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.50, for a total value of $291,707.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,180,062.50. The trade was a 19.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Littelfuse Stock Down 2.1%

NASDAQ LFUS traded down $4.88 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $231.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 217,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 164,414. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 53.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.88, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.10 and a 52 week high of $275.58. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $212.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.30.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The technology company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.37. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 9.00% and a net margin of 4.89%. The company had revenue of $554.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $537.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. Littelfuse's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. Littelfuse's payout ratio is 64.81%.

Littelfuse Company Profile

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.