Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Free Report) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. Robert W. Baird currently has $300.00 target price on the technology company's stock, up from their prior target price of $270.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on LFUS. StockNews.com lowered shares of Littelfuse from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. Benchmark reiterated a hold rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a hold rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company.

Littelfuse Trading Up 4.1 %

LFUS traded up $10.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $259.76. 147,570 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 151,034. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Littelfuse has a one year low of $212.80 and a one year high of $309.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $237.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.32.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.01. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $535.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $519.08 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Littelfuse will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Littelfuse's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.78%.

Insider Transactions at Littelfuse

In related news, CFO Meenal Sethna sold 6,114 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.49, for a total value of $1,568,179.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,753,583.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Meenal Sethna sold 6,114 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.49, for a total value of $1,568,179.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,753,583.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total value of $326,576.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,158,657.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,160 shares of company stock worth $2,829,959 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Littelfuse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Freedom Day Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter worth about $1,568,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Littelfuse by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,313 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $12,124,000 after purchasing an additional 13,366 shares during the last quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the technology company's stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 421,392 shares of the technology company's stock worth $112,748,000 after acquiring an additional 19,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,016 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.