Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company initiated coverage on Littelfuse (LFUS) with a "buy" rating and a $450 price target, implying about an 11.34% upside from the prior close.
• Q4 results beat expectations—EPS $2.69 vs. $2.51 and revenue $593.9M vs. $583.5M—with revenue up 12.2% year-over-year, though the company reported a negative net margin (~-3%).
• Insiders sold roughly 50,109 shares (≈$16.66M) in the last 90 days while institutional investors own about 96.14% of the company stock.

Stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $450.00 price target on the technology company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price suggests a potential upside of 11.34% from the stock's previous close.

LFUS has been the subject of several other research reports. Benchmark raised shares of Littelfuse from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $360.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird set a $360.00 target price on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $360.00 price target on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $386.67.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

LFUS stock opened at $404.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Littelfuse has a 1 year low of $178.76 and a 1 year high of $410.00. The company has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -139.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $357.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.39.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $593.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $583.53 million. Littelfuse had a positive return on equity of 10.53% and a negative net margin of 3.00%.Littelfuse's revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Littelfuse will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In related news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.32, for a total transaction of $1,156,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,124,948.56. This trade represents a 35.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 8,875 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.55, for a total value of $2,853,756.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 6,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,932,193.95. This represents a 59.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 50,109 shares of company stock worth $16,659,553 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 3.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 32,206 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 311 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Littelfuse by 93.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 20,073 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,892,000 after buying an additional 9,706 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Littelfuse by 104.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 333 shares of the technology company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 652.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 527 shares of the technology company's stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc is a global manufacturer of circuit protection, power control, and sensing technologies. Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company develops and produces a broad range of products designed to safeguard electrical and electronic systems across a variety of end markets. Littelfuse's offerings include fuses, semiconductors, relays, and sensors, all engineered to protect against overcurrent, overvoltage, and thermal events in demanding applications.

The company's product portfolio is organized into key segments such as Automotive, Industrial & Electronics, and Power & Sensor.

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