Royce & Associates LP Makes New $493,000 Investment in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,151 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Plexus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $107,489,000. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Plexus by 139.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,669,000 after purchasing an additional 28,406 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $683,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Plexus by 614.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,941 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 11,989 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PLXS. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Plexus in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Plexus in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Plexus from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.14, for a total value of $496,814.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,281,775.14. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.39, for a total transaction of $234,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 74,271 shares in the company, valued at $11,615,241.69. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,458 shares of company stock valued at $2,786,515 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Plexus Price Performance

PLXS opened at $128.21 on Friday. Plexus Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.87 and a 52 week high of $172.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $140.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.39.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The technology company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.10). Plexus had a net margin of 3.03% and a return on equity of 10.36%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Plexus Corp. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Plexus Profile

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.