Short Interest in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) Grows By 13.9%

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LFUS. StockNews.com upgraded Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Littelfuse from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Littelfuse currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Littelfuse Stock Up 0.9 %

LFUS stock opened at $233.17 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Littelfuse has a twelve month low of $222.91 and a twelve month high of $275.58.

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

Littelfuse Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Littelfuse

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LFUS. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Littelfuse by 0.6% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 6,522 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 719 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Littelfuse by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,436 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Littelfuse by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Littelfuse by 70.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 143 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.