Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock: Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Boosts Position

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 95.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 492,281 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 240,603 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $41,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of APH. Pacific Excel Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Amphenol during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,927,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Amphenol by 111.0% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 29,268 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,168,000 after purchasing an additional 15,394 shares during the period. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd increased its stake in Amphenol by 132.7% during the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 45,599 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,761,000 after purchasing an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Amphenol by 29.3% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 193,939 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $24,504,000 after purchasing an additional 43,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Amphenol by 1,118.7% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 39,681 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,014,000 after purchasing an additional 36,425 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amphenol news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $65,949,028.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,855,014 shares in the company, valued at $317,961,554.72. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on APH. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Amphenol from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amphenol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on shares of Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Friday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.00.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of NYSE APH opened at $79.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $195.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.59. Amphenol Corporation has a 1-year low of $59.01 and a 1-year high of $89.93.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a return on equity of 42.53% and a net margin of 17.95%. The business had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 28th that permits the company to buy back $4 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the electronics maker to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a decrease from Amphenol’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol’s payout ratio is presently 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.