Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,217 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Plexus were worth $1,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Plexus by 93.7% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 22,691 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,110,000 after buying an additional 10,975 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Plexus by 115.2% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Plexus by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,453,940 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,147,000 after purchasing an additional 47,762 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $715,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,865,000. 94.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PLXS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sidoti downgraded shares of Plexus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Plexus from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Plexus from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TheStreet cut shares of Plexus from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Plexus in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.75.

Plexus Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of PLXS stock opened at $100.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Plexus Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $83.84 and a fifty-two week high of $114.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.38.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $966.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $950.75 million. Plexus had a net margin of 2.54% and a return on equity of 10.77%. Plexus’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Plexus Corp. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Plexus

In other news, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.86, for a total transaction of $439,284.14. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,544,029.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.86, for a total transaction of $439,284.14. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,544,029.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.00, for a total transaction of $188,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,310 shares in the company, valued at $11,403,140. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,453 shares of company stock valued at $3,112,875. Corporate insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Plexus Company Profile

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.