Avnet, Inc. $AVT Holdings Reduced by Pzena Investment Management LLC

Pzena Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) by 44.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,721,142 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,399,253 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned about 2.09% of Avnet worth $172,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Avnet in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Avnet in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Avnet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Avnet by 38.5% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. acquired a new position in Avnet during the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Avnet

Here are the key news stories impacting Avnet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Avnet earned $3.63 per share, topping the $2.86 consensus estimate, while revenue of $10.72 billion exceeded expectations of $9.22 billion. Revenue rose 81.7% year over year, and EPS increased from $0.84 a year earlier—strong results that support the positive fundamental outlook. Article: Avnet Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management pointed to strong demand and record growth, and initiated fiscal Q2 guidance described as optimistic. This outlook may help sustain investor confidence in the business momentum. Article: Avnet Earnings Call Signals Record Growth and Strong Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: AVT nevertheless traded lower following the results. The reports provided do not point to a clear bearish development; the divergence may reflect investor expectations or profit-taking, but neither explanation is confirmed.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AVT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Avnet from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Avnet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Avnet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Avnet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Avnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avnet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avnet

In related news, SVP Michael Ryan Mccoy sold 32,052 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.10, for a total transaction of $2,919,937.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 76,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,985,001.40. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Philip R. Gallagher sold 51,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.46, for a total transaction of $5,110,074.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,632,158.58. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Stock Down 3.4%

AVT opened at $85.68 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.29. The company has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.11. Avnet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.25 and a 1 year high of $108.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $3.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.77. Avnet had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Avnet’s revenue was up 81.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Avnet, Inc. will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Avnet’s payout ratio is 37.09%.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc is a global technology distributor that helps manufacturers and design engineers source electronic components and develop products. The company supplies semiconductors, embedded processors, memory, connectivity products, sensors, power-management components and other electronic parts used in industrial, automotive, communications, computing, aerospace and defense applications.

In addition to component distribution, Avnet provides engineering and design services, supply-chain management, product customization, logistics, and technical support.