Amphenol (NYSE:APH) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Amphenol (NYSE:APH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on APH. Citigroup boosted their price target on Amphenol from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Amphenol from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Amphenol from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Amphenol from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price target on Amphenol from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.00.

Amphenol Stock Performance

Shares of APH opened at $93.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Amphenol has a one year low of $54.77 and a one year high of $94.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.73, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.99 and a 200 day moving average of $73.08.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.11. Amphenol had a return on equity of 25.67% and a net margin of 15.92%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Amphenol’s revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amphenol will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amphenol news, VP David M. Silverman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $8,909,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,113,625. This represents a 88.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Luc Walter sold 286,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $26,148,980.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 451,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,307,159.70. This trade represents a 38.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,764,500 shares of company stock worth $294,839,785. Corporate insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphenol

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APH. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amphenol during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,378,794,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 294.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,953,591 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,733,027,000 after buying an additional 18,619,417 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 58,911,813 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,091,426,000 after buying an additional 15,837,407 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 196.3% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,743,239 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,098,190,000 after buying an additional 11,092,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 639.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 8,758,951 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $574,500,000 after buying an additional 7,573,750 shares during the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Amphenol

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.