Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 17,900 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BHE. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Benchmark Electronics by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,328,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,227,000 after acquiring an additional 199,263 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Benchmark Electronics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,796,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Benchmark Electronics by 119.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 249,809 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,060,000 after acquiring an additional 135,932 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Benchmark Electronics by 256.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 112,254 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,723,000 after acquiring an additional 80,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Benchmark Electronics by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 350,150 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 75,150 shares during the last quarter. 92.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Benchmark Electronics Stock Up 0.4 %

Benchmark Electronics stock opened at $31.49 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Benchmark Electronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.58 and a 12-month high of $31.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.99 and its 200 day moving average is $27.65. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49 and a beta of 1.02.

Benchmark Electronics (NYSE:BHE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.01. Benchmark Electronics had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The company had revenue of $691.35 million for the quarter.

Benchmark Electronics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Benchmark Electronics’s payout ratio is presently 36.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BHE shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Benchmark Electronics from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Sidoti lowered shares of Benchmark Electronics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Benchmark Electronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th.

Benchmark Electronics Profile

Benchmark Electronics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers product design, engineering services, technology solutions, and manufacturing services in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The company provides engineering services and technology solutions, including new product design, prototype, testing, and related engineering services; and custom testing and technology solutions, as well as automation equipment design and build services.