Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 403,800 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the September 30th total of 437,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 108,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Littelfuse Stock Down 2.6 %

Littelfuse stock opened at $244.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 3.50. Littelfuse has a fifty-two week low of $213.01 and a fifty-two week high of $275.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $258.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.67.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.63. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.91% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business had revenue of $567.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $557.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Littelfuse will post 8.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.65, for a total transaction of $574,293.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,383,971.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.65, for a total transaction of $574,293.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,383,971.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 8,715 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.40, for a total transaction of $2,391,396.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,369,057.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Littelfuse by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in Littelfuse by 0.3% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 16,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,249,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Littelfuse by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 239 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Littelfuse by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 323 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

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.