Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in TE Connectivity Ltd. $TEL

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its stake in TE Connectivity by 9.5% in Q4, selling 71,128 shares and ending the quarter with 675,869 shares (about 0.23% of the company) valued at roughly $153.8 million.
• TE Connectivity beat Q1 expectations with $2.72 EPS (vs. $2.55) and $4.67B revenue (up 21.7% YoY), and the company boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.78 and authorized a $3.0 billion share buyback (up to ~5% of shares).
• Insider and institutional activity: insiders sold 42,345 shares (~$9.63M) over the past 90 days (insider ownership 0.60%), while institutional investors own about 91.43% of TE Connectivity shares.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 675,869 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 71,128 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of TE Connectivity worth $153,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of TE Connectivity in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of TE Connectivity in the third quarter worth about $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of TE Connectivity by 47.4% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 168 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TE Connectivity in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of TE Connectivity by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 91.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TEL shares. Barclays boosted their target price on TE Connectivity from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded TE Connectivity from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $306.00 target price on TE Connectivity in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of TE Connectivity from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Zacks Research cut TE Connectivity from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Shadrak W. Kroeger sold 9,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.82, for a total transaction of $2,197,908.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 32,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,608,736.62. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Reuben M. Shaffer sold 1,425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.23, for a total value of $333,777.75. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,345 shares of company stock valued at $9,627,260. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

TE Connectivity Price Performance

Shares of TE Connectivity stock opened at $229.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $67.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $216.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.51. TE Connectivity Ltd. has a one year low of $124.25 and a one year high of $250.67.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The electronics maker reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.52 billion. TE Connectivity had a return on equity of 22.72% and a net margin of 11.41%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.95 EPS. TE Connectivity has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.650-2.650 EPS. Equities analysts expect that TE Connectivity Ltd. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

TE Connectivity Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from TE Connectivity's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. TE Connectivity's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.98%.

TE Connectivity declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the electronics maker to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity NYSE: TEL is a global industrial technology company that designs and manufactures connectivity and sensor solutions used to enable the flow of power and data in a wide range of applications. Its product portfolio includes electrical connectors, cable and wire harness assemblies, sensors, relays and switches, fiber-optic and coaxial interconnects, and other passive and active components that provide mechanical and electrical connections in complex systems.

The company's products and engineered solutions serve diverse end markets such as automotive and transportation, industrial equipment, data communications and networks, aerospace and defense, medical devices, and energy.

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