Royce & Associates LP Has $856,000 Stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Plexus Corp. by 112%, acquiring an additional 3,528 shares and bringing its total holdings to 6,679 shares, valued at approximately $856,000.
• Plexus has received several upgrades from analysts, including a shift from "buy" to "strong-buy" from Wall Street Zen, with a consensus average target price of $152.00.
• Insider sales were reported, with CEO Todd P. Kelsey selling 2,000 shares and CFO Patrick John Jermain selling 4,328 shares, both showing significant decreases in their ownership percentages.

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS - Free Report) by 112.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,679 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,528 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP's holdings in Plexus were worth $856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PLXS. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Plexus by 19,069.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 170,797 shares of the technology company's stock worth $21,884,000 after purchasing an additional 169,906 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Plexus in the 4th quarter valued at $24,747,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Plexus by 146.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 258,824 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,501,000 after buying an additional 154,003 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Plexus by 1,875.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 137,466 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $21,511,000 after buying an additional 130,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Plexus in the 4th quarter valued at $15,892,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Plexus in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Plexus from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $140.00 price target on Plexus in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sidoti raised Plexus from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Plexus from $162.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Plexus has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.00.

Plexus Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of PLXS stock traded down $1.86 on Friday, reaching $125.64. 55,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 182,711. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 0.80. Plexus Corp. has a one year low of $103.43 and a one year high of $172.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $132.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.80.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Plexus had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 4.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Plexus Corp. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Karen Marie Rapp sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.77, for a total value of $65,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,224,661.05. This represents a 5.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.29, for a total value of $572,551.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,637 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,391,518.73. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,032 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,222 in the last ninety days. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Plexus Profile

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.