Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,994 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Plexus by 36,700.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 368 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Plexus in the 2nd quarter worth $51,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Plexus by 89.4% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 464 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Plexus by 85.0% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Plexus by 190.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PLXS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Plexus in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plexus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.25.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLXS opened at $166.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.54 and a beta of 0.90. Plexus Corp. has a 1-year low of $90.18 and a 1-year high of $170.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.30. Plexus had a net margin of 2.82% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Plexus’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Plexus Corp. will post 6.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Plexus

In related news, insider Victor (Pang Hau) Tan sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.90, for a total transaction of $497,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,869.50. This represents a 34.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Oliver K. Mihm sold 5,691 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.06, for a total transaction of $950,738.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,271,870.10. This represents a 22.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,591 shares of company stock valued at $5,143,375 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Plexus 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.