Candriam S.C.A. Acquires 128,771 Shares of Amphenol Corporation $APH

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 151.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 213,980 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,771 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $18,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of APH. Purus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Amphenol by 3.7% during the second quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,801 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC raised its stake in Amphenol by 27.2% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Amphenol by 3.8% during the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,980 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC lifted its holdings in Amphenol by 0.5% during the second quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 14,211 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,506,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Amphenol by 1.3% during the second quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 5,675 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 3,855,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. This represents a 17.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Amphenol from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Evercore set a $100.00 price target on Amphenol in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Amphenol from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Amphenol from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Amphenol from $175.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amphenol presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $108.32.

Amphenol Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE APH opened at $74.67 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $184.39 billion, a PE ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.53. Amphenol Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.01 and a 52 week high of $89.93.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 42.53%. Amphenol’s revenue for the quarter was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 28th that allows the company to buy back $4 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the electronics maker to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 22nd. 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%. Amphenol’s payout ratio is currently 21.74%.

About Amphenol

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.

Founded in 1932, Amphenol has grown into a global manufacturer serving customers across the Americas, Europe and Asia.