Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock Acquired by Monte Financial Group LLC

Monte Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 98.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,876 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,874 shares during the quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacific Excel Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,927,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd grew its holdings in Amphenol by 132.7% during the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 45,599 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,761,000 after purchasing an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in Amphenol by 29.3% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 193,939 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $24,504,000 after purchasing an additional 43,945 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Amphenol by 1,118.7% during the first quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 39,681 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,014,000 after purchasing an additional 36,425 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Amphenol in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,637,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on APH shares. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $112.00) on shares of Amphenol in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on shares of Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Amphenol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amphenol currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.32.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of APH opened at $71.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.54. Amphenol Corporation has a 52-week low of $59.01 and a 52-week high of $89.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.13 billion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Amphenol had a return on equity of 42.53% and a net margin of 17.95%. Amphenol’s revenue for the quarter was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a drop from Amphenol’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.74%.

Amphenol declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $4 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the electronics maker to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total transaction of $65,949,028.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,855,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $317,961,554.72. This represents a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amphenol Profile

Amphenol Corporation (NYSE: APH) is a global manufacturer of electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, interconnect systems and related products. Its portfolio includes cable assemblies, sensors, antennas, backplane systems, radio-frequency components and other specialized electronic hardware.

The company serves customers across a range of industries, including automotive, aerospace and defense, information technology and data communications, industrial, mobile networks, commercial aerospace, medical and other markets.