Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Stake Raised by Prospector Partners LLC

Prospector Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,725 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,625 shares during the period. Littelfuse makes up about 2.2% of Prospector Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Prospector Partners LLC owned about 0.27% of Littelfuse worth $17,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in Littelfuse by 8.0% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,279 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,048,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Littelfuse by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 56,993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,096,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 7,332 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,070 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Littelfuse during the third quarter worth about $581,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LFUS. Baird R W upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird raised Littelfuse from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $270.00 to $300.00 in a report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Littelfuse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 30th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.00.

Littelfuse Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LFUS traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $257.42. 58,090 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 148,639. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $239.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.24. The company has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.80 and a 52-week high of $309.94.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.01. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $535.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is currently 29.78%.

Insider Activity at Littelfuse

In related news, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total value of $326,576.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,158,657.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Meenal Sethna sold 6,114 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.49, for a total transaction of $1,568,179.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,432 shares in the company, valued at $5,753,583.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deepak Nayar sold 1,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.25, for a total value of $326,576.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,158,657.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,160 shares of company stock worth $2,829,959 in the last ninety days. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors.