Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

PLXS has been the topic of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Plexus in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.50.

Plexus Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Plexus stock opened at $159.63 on Monday. Plexus has a 1 year low of $90.18 and a 1 year high of $169.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.58 and a 200 day moving average of $123.42. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81 and a beta of 0.87.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.30. Plexus had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Plexus will post 6.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Plexus news, insider Michael J. Running sold 579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.93, for a total transaction of $89,125.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $241,516.17. This trade represents a 26.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Oliver K. Mihm sold 5,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.06, for a total value of $950,738.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,271,870.10. This trade represents a 22.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,552 shares of company stock worth $5,250,872. Company insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plexus

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLXS. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Plexus by 204.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 158,032 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,306,000 after buying an additional 106,103 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,366,000 after purchasing an additional 87,574 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,515,866 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $333,374,000 after purchasing an additional 74,988 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Plexus by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,168,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $296,457,000 after purchasing an additional 59,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Plexus by 158.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 82,575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,289,000 after buying an additional 50,564 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

About Plexus

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.