First Manhattan CO. LLC. Decreases Stake in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its holdings in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,532 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 9,070 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $1,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tacita Capital Inc grew its holdings in Amphenol by 328.9% in the 4th quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 386 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Amphenol during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Amphenol by 703.8% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 418 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 97.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amphenol Stock Performance

Shares of APH stock opened at $80.78 on Friday. Amphenol Co. has a 12 month low of $54.77 and a 12 month high of $81.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $97.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.18, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.84.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.11. Amphenol had a return on equity of 25.67% and a net margin of 15.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Amphenol Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on APH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Amphenol from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. US Capital Advisors set a $85.00 price objective on Amphenol in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Amphenol from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up previously from $78.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on Amphenol from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard Adam Norwitt sold 2,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.73, for a total transaction of $151,460,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,002,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,649,855.11. This represents a 49.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider William J. Doherty sold 126,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $10,115,280.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,178,500 shares of company stock valued at $241,903,805 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

About Amphenol

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.