Vulcan Value Partners LLC Boosts Position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Key Points

• Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its stake in Littelfuse, Inc. by 13.7% during the first quarter, holding approximately 0.92% of the company, valued at $44,769,000.
• Littelfuse recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75, up from $0.70, with an annualized yield of 1.2%.
• Various analysts have mixed ratings on Littelfuse, with Baird R W downgrading it to a "hold" while other firms maintained a "hold" or issued a "buy" rating, indicating a consensus target price of $252.25.

Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 227,555 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 27,462 shares during the period. Littelfuse makes up 0.8% of Vulcan Value Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Vulcan Value Partners LLC owned about 0.92% of Littelfuse worth $44,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,066 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,876 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $913,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,642,000. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,477 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.50, for a total transaction of $291,707.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,180,062.50. This trade represents a 19.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LFUS shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Baird R W lowered shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $249.67.

Littelfuse Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of LFUS traded down $6.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $250.91. The stock had a trading volume of 279,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 190,788. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.10 and a 1 year high of $275.56. The firm has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 52.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The stock's 50 day moving average is $226.74 and its 200 day moving average is $214.49.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.50. Littelfuse had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The business had revenue of $613.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $571.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Littelfuse's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.33%.

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.