Ariel Investments LLC Trims Position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Ariel Investments LLC trimmed its stake in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 298,065 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,206 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC’s holdings in Littelfuse were worth $70,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LFUS. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 525.0% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 125 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 181.0% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 548.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 188 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 221.0% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 260 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on LFUS. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $310.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Littelfuse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Littelfuse from $182.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Baird R W downgraded Littelfuse from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $252.25.

Littelfuse Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ LFUS opened at $192.80 on Friday. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.10 and a 1 year high of $275.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 42.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $189.90 and a 200 day moving average of $225.06.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The technology company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $554.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $537.60 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 5.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.81%.

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.