Amphenol (NYSE:APH) Shares Down 1.8% – Should You Sell?

Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) traded down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $76.05 and last traded at $78.1540. 9,515,326 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 17,111,348 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on APH. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price objective (up from $102.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $112.00) on shares of Amphenol in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amphenol from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Amphenol from $175.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.00.

Amphenol Trading Down 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $192.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.60.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $10.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 42.53%. Amphenol’s quarterly revenue was up 65.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a drop from Amphenol’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.74%.

Amphenol declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 28th that permits the company to buy back $4 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the electronics maker to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphenol

In related news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $65,949,028.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,855,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 64.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 117,391,408 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $9,910,494,000 after buying an additional 46,110,349 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Amphenol by 10.5% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,579,919 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,923,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,248 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 3,010.0% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 16,437,431 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,898,248,000 after acquiring an additional 15,908,901 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 4.5% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,703,604 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,710,939,000 after acquiring an additional 416,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amphenol in the second quarter valued at about $1,600,531,000. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation designs, manufactures and markets electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, interconnect systems, antennas and sensor products. Its offerings also include cable assemblies and related components used to transmit signals and power in electronic equipment and systems. The company serves customers in a range of markets, including communications and information technology, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, mobile devices and data networks. Its products are used in applications such as vehicles, communications infrastructure, commercial aircraft and industrial equipment.