Stifel Financial Corp Acquires New Holdings in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Stifel Financial Corp bought a new position in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 2,429 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Plexus by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,109,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $217,611,000 after buying an additional 7,245 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 worth $46,772,000 after acquiring an additional 31,099 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Plexus by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 421,903 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 200,186 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,367,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483 shares in the last quarter. 94.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Plexus Stock Down 2.4 %

PLXS opened at $157.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.57. Plexus Corp. has a 1-year low of $90.18 and a 1-year high of $170.07. The stock has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 39.35 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Plexus

In other news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,113 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $448,863.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,093,223.37. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.48, for a total transaction of $593,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,030,740.48. The trade was a 4.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,591 shares of company stock valued at $5,143,375 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PLXS. StockNews.com raised shares of Plexus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp started coverage on Plexus in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.25.

About Plexus

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.