Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Short Interest Up 13.9% in December

Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 328,400 shares, a growth of 13.9% from the December 15th total of 288,300 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 105,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Littelfuse Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Littelfuse stock opened at $233.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $241.67 and its 200 day moving average is $251.88. Littelfuse has a one year low of $222.91 and a one year high of $275.58. The firm has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $567.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 8.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Littelfuse will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Littelfuse

In other news, CAO Jeffrey G. Gorski sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.02, for a total transaction of $174,314.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $773,207.10. This trade represents a 18.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Littelfuse

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 6,522 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Littelfuse by 6.5% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 719 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 1.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Littelfuse by 1.4% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 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.