Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Stock Price Up 5.4% Following Dividend Announcement

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)’s stock price rose 5.4% on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $236.68 and last traded at $236.04. Approximately 54,939 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 123,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.00.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LFUS. Oppenheimer upgraded Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.00.

Littelfuse Trading Up 3.4 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.26.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 8.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total value of $174,314.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,105 shares in the company, valued at $773,207.10. This trade represents a 18.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Littelfuse by 200.0% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 96 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Littelfuse during the third quarter worth $27,000. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Littelfuse by 525.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 70.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Littelfuse by 181.0% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Company Profile

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.