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

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) saw a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 314,700 shares, a drop of 22.1% from the October 15th total of 403,800 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 109,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LFUS. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer raised Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Littelfuse

In other news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 2,091 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,383,971.10. This represents a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total transaction of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,358,522.44. This trade represents a 20.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,242 shares of company stock worth $3,318,974 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 431,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $114,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Littelfuse by 52.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,949 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Littelfuse by 2.8% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,849 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,612,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Littelfuse by 126.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 11,418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after buying an additional 6,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Littelfuse by 3.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 747,082 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $198,164,000 after buying an additional 24,571 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Trading Down 3.3 %

LFUS stock traded down $8.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $241.09. The stock had a trading volume of 128,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 104,126. Littelfuse has a 12-month low of $222.91 and a 12-month high of $275.58. The firm has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $255.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $256.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.62. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 8.88%. The business had revenue of $567.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Littelfuse will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

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.