Values First Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,991 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Amphenol makes up about 1.4% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $2,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of APH. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Amphenol by 95,441.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,868,807 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,055,971,000 after purchasing an additional 13,854,291 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amphenol during the 4th quarter valued at $653,884,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Amphenol by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,811,475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $823,186,000 after acquiring an additional 3,310,939 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Amphenol by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 48,104,261 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,086,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Amphenol by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,214,089 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,232,289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,808 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of Amphenol stock traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $115.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,356,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,746,816. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.17. Amphenol Co. has a 1 year low of $72.00 and a 1 year high of $119.59. The company has a market capitalization of $69.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $106.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.13.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electronics maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Amphenol had a return on equity of 23.94% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Amphenol’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amphenol Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Amphenol’s payout ratio is 28.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Amphenol from $107.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Amphenol from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Amphenol in a research note on Friday, January 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $117.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider William J. Doherty sold 170,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.50, for a total transaction of $17,595,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Lance E. D’amico sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.75, for a total transaction of $1,571,250.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,692,075. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider William J. Doherty sold 170,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.50, for a total value of $17,595,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 305,000 shares of company stock worth $31,846,050. Insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.