Western Financial Corp CA Grows Position in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Western Financial Corp CA raised its holdings in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,922 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of APH. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Amphenol by 3.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 53,534,216 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,496,777,000 after buying an additional 1,537,880 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,666,093 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,601,540,000 after acquiring an additional 564,991 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amphenol by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,558,670 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $427,363,000 after acquiring an additional 63,180 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 5,329,913 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $347,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Amphenol by 89.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,303,215 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $280,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,032,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Amphenol from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on Amphenol from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Amphenol from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Amphenol from $79.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Amphenol from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amphenol has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Peter Straub sold 132,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total transaction of $9,783,840.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.56, for a total transaction of $21,468,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 318,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,764,380.96. This trade represents a 48.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 612,000 shares of company stock valued at $44,177,640 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:APH opened at $70.75 on Friday. Amphenol Co. has a twelve month low of $50.48 and a twelve month high of $79.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $85.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $71.89 and its 200 day moving average is $68.00.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The electronics maker reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 15.92% and a return on equity of 25.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amphenol Co. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Amphenol’s payout ratio is 34.46%.

About Amphenol

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.