Analysts Set Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Target Price at $280.00

Shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $280.00.

Several research analysts have weighed in on LFUS shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Littelfuse Stock Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ LFUS opened at $223.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $248.17. Littelfuse has a 12 month low of $222.30 and a 12 month high of $275.58. The company has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.57, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.26.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04. Littelfuse had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 8.55%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Littelfuse will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Littelfuse news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total value of $174,314.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $773,207.10. This represents a 18.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the 4th quarter worth about $131,579,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Littelfuse in the fourth quarter worth about $32,865,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,250,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 119.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 116,940 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,557,000 after buying an additional 63,632 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 763,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $179,895,000 after buying an additional 55,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Company Profile

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.