Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $222.30 and last traded at $223.07, with a volume of 235562 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $232.11.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LFUS shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.00.

Littelfuse Stock Down 3.9 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $237.90 and its 200 day moving average is $248.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.26.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.04. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 5.16%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.22%.

Insider Transactions at Littelfuse

In other news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $773,207.10. This trade represents a 18.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the fourth quarter worth about $131,579,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Littelfuse during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,865,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new position in Littelfuse during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,250,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 119.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 116,940 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,557,000 after buying an additional 63,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 763,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $179,895,000 after buying an additional 55,835 shares during the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.