Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Buys 253 Shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,030 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Littelfuse worth $3,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Littelfuse in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 372.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 137 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Littelfuse in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Littelfuse by 28.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Littelfuse by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 432 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Littelfuse news, EVP Ryan K. Stafford sold 2,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.33, for a total value of $568,796.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,437 shares in the company, valued at $6,263,936.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total value of $326,576.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,630 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,657.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ryan K. Stafford sold 2,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.33, for a total transaction of $568,796.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,263,936.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,938 shares of company stock valued at $2,545,503. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Littelfuse Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of LFUS traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $265.88. 38,942 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 139,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $257.69 and its 200-day moving average is $245.68. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.80 and a 1 year high of $309.21.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $535.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $519.08 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 9.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is presently 29.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LFUS. Robert W. Baird upgraded Littelfuse from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Littelfuse from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Littelfuse in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

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.