Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 1,052 Shares of TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,701 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in TE Connectivity were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of TE Connectivity in the fourth quarter valued at about $909,598,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in TE Connectivity by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,378,995 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,629,225,000 after acquiring an additional 4,029,596 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in TE Connectivity during the fourth quarter worth approximately $508,199,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TE Connectivity by 72.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,064,822 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $581,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,825 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi acquired a new position in shares of TE Connectivity in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,992,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TEL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on TE Connectivity from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of TE Connectivity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on TE Connectivity from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, HSBC raised TE Connectivity from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $166.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.00.

Insider Activity at TE Connectivity

In other TE Connectivity news, insider Shadrak W. Kroeger sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.77, for a total value of $3,669,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,812,497.52. This represents a 49.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

TE Connectivity Stock Down 6.2 %

TEL stock opened at $121.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.05. TE Connectivity Ltd. has a 12 month low of $120.99 and a 12 month high of $159.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.25.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The electronics maker reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.06. TE Connectivity had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that TE Connectivity Ltd. will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TE Connectivity Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from TE Connectivity’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. TE Connectivity’s payout ratio is 45.37%.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaPacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions.