Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) Shares Purchased by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) by 63.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,264 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,843 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $3,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amphenol by 95,441.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,868,807 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,055,971,000 after purchasing an additional 13,854,291 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amphenol in the fourth quarter valued at $653,884,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Amphenol by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,811,475 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $823,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,310,939 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Amphenol by 55.2% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,376,669 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $199,616,000 after purchasing an additional 845,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Amphenol by 21.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,090,708 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $343,579,000 after purchasing an additional 729,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:APH opened at $111.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $67.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. Amphenol Co. has a 12-month low of $72.00 and a 12-month high of $119.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $110.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.26.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electronics maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Amphenol had a return on equity of 23.94% and a net margin of 15.36%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Amphenol Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Lance E. D’amico sold 15,000 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.75, for a total value of $1,571,250.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,692,075. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Peter Straub sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.64, for a total transaction of $2,212,800.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Lance E. D’amico sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.75, for a total value of $1,571,250.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,700 shares in the company, valued at $2,692,075. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 305,000 shares of company stock valued at $31,846,050 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $107.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Amphenol in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.00.

About Amphenol

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.