JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its position in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 104,821 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,204 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Plexus were worth $14,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Plexus by 0.3% during 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 buying an additional 7,245 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Plexus in the third quarter valued at about $899,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Plexus by 3.9% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI grew its stake in Plexus by 62.6% in the third quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 13,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Plexus in the third quarter valued at about $826,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLXS opened at $161.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.03. Plexus Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $90.18 and a fifty-two week high of $170.07.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 4,000 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.48, for a total transaction of $593,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,030,740.48. The trade was a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,113 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $448,863.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,093,223.37. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,091 shares of company stock valued at $5,377,960. 1.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on PLXS. KeyCorp began coverage on Plexus in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Benchmark lifted their target price on Plexus from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Plexus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Plexus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.00.

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.