Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock: Machina Capital S.A.S. Cuts Holdings

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its stake in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 29.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,275 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 9,052 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of APH. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in Amphenol by 3,010.0% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 16,437,431 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,898,248,000 after purchasing an additional 15,908,901 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 24.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,281,059 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $12,107,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,641 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,600,531,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amphenol by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 7,900,956 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $666,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 132.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,610,411 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $309,304,000 after buying an additional 2,054,660 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on APH. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $100.00 target price on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Amphenol in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price target (up from $102.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.00.

Amphenol Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE APH opened at $79.81 on Friday. Amphenol Corporation has a 12 month low of $59.01 and a 12 month high of $89.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.30 and a 200-day moving average of $75.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $197.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a net margin of 17.95% and a return on equity of 42.53%. The firm had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Amphenol’s revenue was up 65.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

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

Amphenol announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $4 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the electronics maker to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Amphenol

In related news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total value of $65,949,028.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,855,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amphenol Profile

Amphenol Corporation designs, manufactures and markets electrical, electronic and fiber-optic connectors, interconnect systems, antennas and sensor products. Its offerings also include cable assemblies and related components used to transmit signals and power in electronic equipment and systems. The company serves customers in a range of markets, including communications and information technology, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, mobile devices and data networks. Its products are used in applications such as vehicles, communications infrastructure, commercial aircraft and industrial equipment.