Avnet, Inc. $AVT Stock Position Trimmed by Pzena Investment Management LLC

Pzena Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,721,142 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,399,253 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Avnet were worth $172,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVT. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avnet during the third quarter worth $40,000. IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at $256,000. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Avnet by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Avnet during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,847,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Avnet during the 3rd quarter worth $719,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of Avnet stock opened at $85.68 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.11. Avnet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.25 and a fifty-two week high of $108.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.29.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.77. Avnet had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Avnet’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Avnet, Inc. will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.09%.

Key Headlines Impacting Avnet

Here are the key news stories impacting Avnet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Avnet earned $3.63 per share, topping the $2.86 consensus estimate, while revenue of $10.72 billion exceeded expectations of $9.22 billion. Revenue rose 81.7% year over year, and EPS increased from $0.84 a year earlier—strong results that support the positive fundamental outlook. Article: Avnet Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management pointed to strong demand and record growth, and initiated fiscal Q2 guidance described as optimistic. This outlook may help sustain investor confidence in the business momentum. Article: Avnet Earnings Call Signals Record Growth and Strong Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: AVT nevertheless traded lower following the results. The reports provided do not point to a clear bearish development; the divergence may reflect investor expectations or profit-taking, but neither explanation is confirmed.

Insider Activity at Avnet

In other Avnet news, SVP Michael Ryan Mccoy sold 32,052 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.10, for a total value of $2,919,937.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 76,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,985,001.40. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Philip Gallagher sold 51,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.46, for a total transaction of $5,110,074.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 168,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,632,158.58. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AVT. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Avnet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avnet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Avnet from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Avnet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Avnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avnet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

Avnet Profile

Avnet, Inc is a global technology distributor that helps manufacturers and design engineers source electronic components and develop products. The company supplies semiconductors, embedded processors, memory, connectivity products, sensors, power-management components and other electronic parts used in industrial, automotive, communications, computing, aerospace and defense applications.

In addition to component distribution, Avnet provides engineering and design services, supply-chain management, product customization, logistics, and technical support.