First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) by 40.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,999 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 19,160 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.11% of Littelfuse worth $6,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 525.0% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 181.0% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Littelfuse in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 548.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Littelfuse by 221.0% during the 4th quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 260 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

Shares of Littelfuse stock traded up $1.81 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $194.61. The company had a trading volume of 19,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 155,848. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.58. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.25, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.10 and a 12-month high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $554.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.60 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 5.16%. The firm's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Baird R W cut shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $252.25.

Littelfuse 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.