Benchmark Reaffirms Buy Rating for Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $150.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 11.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Plexus from $114.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Plexus has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.25.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLXS opened at $134.78 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Plexus has a fifty-two week low of $87.21 and a fifty-two week high of $139.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.48. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.95 and a beta of 0.89.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.17. Plexus had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 9.64%. The business had revenue of $960.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $981.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Plexus will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Plexus news, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.40, for a total value of $385,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,028,768.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.75, for a total value of $123,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 87,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,769,467.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.40, for a total transaction of $385,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,028,768.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,113 shares of company stock worth $2,541,394. Insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,515,866 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $333,374,000 after acquiring an additional 74,988 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 0.3% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,109,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,611,000 after acquiring an additional 7,245 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 8.8% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,079,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,366,000 after acquiring an additional 87,574 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.0% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 788,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 453,308 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,772,000 after acquiring an additional 31,099 shares in the last quarter. 94.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.