Amphenol (NYSE:APH) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $156.46 and last traded at $154.6330, with a volume of 76924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Amphenol from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $174.00 target price (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Fox Advisors reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Amphenol from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $143.00 to $156.00 in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Amphenol from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $120.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.62.

Amphenol Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $138.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.88. The stock has a market cap of $184.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.07, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.21.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electronics maker reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. Amphenol had a net margin of 18.22% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The business had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amphenol

In other Amphenol news, CFO Craig A. Lampo sold 40,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.50, for a total transaction of $5,750,906.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 39,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,723,354. This represents a 50.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Luc Walter sold 365,118 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.65, for a total value of $49,163,138.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 433,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,403,360.30. This represents a 45.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,063,194 shares of company stock valued at $148,244,445 in the last quarter. 1.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amphenol

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APH. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Amphenol in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 82.6% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 199 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Amphenol by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 252 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Amphenol during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Amphenol in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation (NYSE: APH) is a leading global manufacturer of electronic and fiber optic connectors, interconnect systems, and related components. The company designs, engineers and produces a broad range of products including electrical connectors, cable assemblies, fiber optic solutions, sensors, antennas and electromechanical devices used to transfer power, signal and data across complex systems. Its product portfolio spans ruggedized connectors for harsh environments to high-speed solutions for data centers and telecommunications networks.

Amphenol serves a diverse set of end markets, including automotive, broadband and telecom, data communications, mobile devices, industrial, energy, and military/aerospace.