MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,806 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Littelfuse were worth $3,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Littelfuse by 105.9% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the 1st quarter worth $365,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Littelfuse by 275.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Littelfuse by 303.8% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,661 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Littelfuse by 2.6% during the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Littelfuse Price Performance

LFUS stock opened at $246.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $253.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Littelfuse, Inc. has a 12-month low of $222.91 and a 12-month high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $567.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.38 million. Littelfuse had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 8.88%. Littelfuse’s revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Littelfuse’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Littelfuse

In other Littelfuse news, SVP Matthew Cole sold 1,436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.02, for a total value of $353,284.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,358,522.44. This trade represents a 20.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LFUS. StockNews.com upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Littelfuse from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

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.