Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Short Interest Update

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 314,700 shares, a drop of 22.1% from the October 15th total of 403,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 109,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In other news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total value of $2,391,396.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,369,057.60. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total transaction of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,358,522.44. This represents a 20.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 200.0% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Littelfuse in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in Littelfuse by 410.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 70.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 275.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Littelfuse Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of LFUS stock traded down $8.21 on Friday, hitting $241.09. 128,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 128,364. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28. Littelfuse has a fifty-two week low of $222.91 and a fifty-two week high of $275.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $255.51 and a 200 day moving average of $256.27.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $567.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Littelfuse will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com raised Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer upgraded Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Littelfuse Company Profile

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.