Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

Key Points

• Littelfuse's share price jumped from $235.79 to $254.92 following a strong earnings report, with the stock closing at $265.53.
• The company reported earnings per share of $2.85, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.35 and showing a 9.8% revenue increase year-over-year.
• Littelfuse announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.75, up from $0.70, yielding an annualized rate of 1.13% for investors.

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $235.79, but opened at $254.92. Littelfuse shares last traded at $265.53, with a volume of 75,252 shares.

The technology company reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.50. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 5.30%. The firm had revenue of $613.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $571.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.97 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on LFUS. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Littelfuse from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 228.2% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 128 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Littelfuse in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Hoese & Co LLP increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 781.3% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 282 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 42.0% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Littelfuse in the first quarter valued at $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company's stock.

Littelfuse Stock Down 2.5%

The company has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.41. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $226.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

About Littelfuse

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.