StockNews.com Lowers CTS (NYSE:CTS) to Hold

CTS (NYSE:CTS) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on CTS. Sidoti cut CTS from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on CTS from $38.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

CTS Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CTS traded down $1.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $52.85. The company had a trading volume of 136,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 150,028. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09 and a beta of 0.60. CTS has a 1 year low of $35.50 and a 1 year high of $54.73. The company has a current ratio of 3.32, a quick ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.03.

CTS (NYSE:CTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The electronics maker reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $125.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.75 million. CTS had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 10.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CTS will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at CTS

In other news, SVP Martin Baumeister sold 5,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $300,351.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,037,898.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Martin Baumeister sold 5,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $300,351.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,898.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kieran M. O’sullivan sold 14,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.13, for a total value of $705,818.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 501,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,642,151.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 68,335 shares of company stock worth $3,248,248. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CTS

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CTS. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in CTS by 160.3% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 963,954 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $45,103,000 after purchasing an additional 593,641 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CTS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,855,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in CTS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,859,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CTS by 181.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 216,035 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,017,000 after acquiring an additional 139,269 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CTS by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,729,923 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $113,947,000 after acquiring an additional 122,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.87% of the company’s stock.

CTS Company Profile

CTS Corporation manufactures and sells sensors, actuators, and connectivity components in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company provides encoders, rotary position sensors, slide potentiometers, industrial and commercial rotary potentiometers. It also provides non-contacting, and contacting pedals; and eBrake pedals.