Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Upgraded to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Friday.

LFUS has been the subject of several other reports. Baird R W cut shares of Littelfuse from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Benchmark reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $252.25.

Littelfuse Trading Up 0.5%

LFUS stock traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $226.73. The stock had a trading volume of 113,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 163,982. The firm has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 52.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.75. Littelfuse has a 12-month low of $142.10 and a 12-month high of $275.58. The company's 50-day moving average price is $207.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.45.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Littelfuse had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 9.00%. The company had revenue of $554.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $537.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Littelfuse news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.50, for a total value of $291,707.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,180,062.50. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Littelfuse in the 4th quarter worth $131,579,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Littelfuse in the 1st quarter worth $43,574,000. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 39.9% in the 1st quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 618,215 shares of the technology company's stock worth $121,628,000 after buying an additional 176,243 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Littelfuse in the 4th quarter worth $32,865,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 60,177.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 113,322 shares of the technology company's stock worth $22,295,000 after buying an additional 113,134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company's stock.

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.