Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AVT. Weiss Ratings downgraded Avnet from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avnet from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Avnet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Avnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Avnet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.25.

Avnet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of AVT opened at $106.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.78. Avnet has a 52 week low of $44.25 and a 52 week high of $108.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.14.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.48. Avnet had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.21%.The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. Avnet has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.900 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Avnet will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This is a boost from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avnet

In related news, SVP Michael Ryan Mccoy sold 32,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.10, for a total transaction of $2,919,937.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 76,674 shares in the company, valued at $6,985,001.40. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Philip Gallagher sold 51,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.46, for a total value of $5,110,074.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,923 shares in the company, valued at $16,632,158.58. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Avnet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $916,146,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Avnet by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,885,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,655,000 after purchasing an additional 22,137 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Avnet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $277,153,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avnet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,393,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Avnet by 6.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,166,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,901,000 after buying an additional 70,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc is a global technology distributor and solutions provider that connects electronic component manufacturers with customers ranging from original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers to design engineers and startups. The company distributes semiconductors, interconnect products, passive and electromechanical components, and embedded computing products used in industrial, automotive, communications, aerospace and defense, healthcare, and consumer applications.

In addition to component distribution, Avnet provides engineering and design support, embedded systems, product customization, supply chain management, logistics, and other services intended to help customers move products from concept and prototyping through production.