TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) Short Interest Up 46.9% in March

TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, a growth of 46.9% from the March 15th total of 3,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on TEL. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. HSBC raised TE Connectivity from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $166.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of TE Connectivity from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $165.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of TE Connectivity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.90.

TE Connectivity Price Performance

TEL opened at $129.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.36. The firm has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.25. TE Connectivity has a twelve month low of $116.30 and a twelve month high of $159.98.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The electronics maker reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.06. TE Connectivity had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 12.10%. The firm had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. TE Connectivity’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that TE Connectivity will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TE Connectivity Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from TE Connectivity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. TE Connectivity’s payout ratio is currently 45.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TE Connectivity news, insider Shadrak W. Kroeger sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.77, for a total transaction of $3,669,250.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,812,497.52. This trade represents a 49.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of TE Connectivity during the 4th quarter valued at about $909,598,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of TE Connectivity by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,378,995 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,629,225,000 after acquiring an additional 4,029,596 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in TE Connectivity in the 4th quarter valued at about $508,199,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of TE Connectivity by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,064,822 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $581,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in shares of TE Connectivity during the 4th quarter worth about $159,992,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.43% of the company’s stock.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaPacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions.