Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) by 318.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,897 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,615 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Avnet were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Avnet by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $311,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $261,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in Avnet by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Price Performance

Avnet stock opened at $54.58 on Wednesday. Avnet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.62 and a 1 year high of $59.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.79. The company has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 2.25.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.06. Avnet had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. Avnet’s revenue was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Avnet, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. Avnet’s payout ratio is currently 34.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Avnet from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Avnet from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Avnet from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Avnet Company Profile

Avnet, Inc, distributes electronic component technology. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Components and Farnell. The Electronic Components segment markets, sells, and distributes semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components; and other integrated components from electronic component manufacturers.