Stock Buyback Plan Approved by Amphenol (NYSE:APH)

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the electronics maker to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Amphenol Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of APH stock opened at $116.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $69.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. Amphenol has a 52 week low of $72.00 and a 52 week high of $119.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.30.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electronics maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 23.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Analysts predict that Amphenol will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Amphenol’s payout ratio is currently 28.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $107.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Amphenol from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amphenol news, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.67, for a total value of $10,467,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 147,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,391,200.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.67, for a total value of $10,467,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 147,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,391,200.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider William J. Doherty sold 170,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.50, for a total transaction of $17,595,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 305,000 shares of company stock worth $31,846,050 in the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.