Lazard Asset Management LLC Takes $1.35 Million Position in Sanmina Co. (NASDAQ:SANM)

Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sanmina Co. (NASDAQ:SANM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 17,858 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,351,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sanmina by 296.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 92,863 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,358,000 after buying an additional 69,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Sanmina by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 675,191 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $51,092,000 after buying an additional 165,285 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Sanmina by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,200 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sanmina during the fourth quarter worth $2,644,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Sanmina by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 106,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,018,000 after purchasing an additional 8,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.71% of the company’s stock.

Sanmina Stock Performance

Shares of SANM opened at $84.56 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.48. Sanmina Co. has a 12 month low of $61.52 and a 12 month high of $91.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10.

Sanmina (NASDAQ:SANM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The electronics maker reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.03. Sanmina had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 10.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sanmina Co. will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sanmina announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, January 27th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the electronics maker to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sanmina news, Director Mario M. Rosati sold 11,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.02, for a total transaction of $979,853.82. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 80,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,906,975.90. This represents a 12.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on SANM shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Sanmina from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $92.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sanmina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Sanmina Company Profile

Sanmina Corporation provides integrated manufacturing solutions, components, products and repair, logistics, and after-market services worldwide. It operates in two businesses, Integrated Manufacturing Solutions; and Components, Products and Services. The company offers product design and engineering, including concept development, detailed design, prototyping, validation, preproduction, manufacturing design release, and product industrialization; assembly and test services; direct order fulfillment and logistics services; after-market product service and support; and supply chain management services, as well as engages in the manufacturing of components, subassemblies, and complete systems.