Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $235.79, but opened at $254.92. Littelfuse shares last traded at $265.53, with a volume of 75,252 shares changing hands.

The technology company reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.50. Littelfuse had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 9.00%. The firm had revenue of $613.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $571.04 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. This is a positive change from Littelfuse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W lowered shares of Littelfuse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.50, for a total value of $291,707.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $1,180,062.50. The trade was a 19.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Littelfuse by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Littelfuse by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,066 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Littelfuse by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,876 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $913,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Littelfuse in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,036,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Littelfuse in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,642,000. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Littelfuse Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 3.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.30.

About Littelfuse

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.