Amphenol Corporation $APH Stock Acquired by Factory Mutual Insurance Co.

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its stake in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 149.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,020,688 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 611,054 shares during the quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $86,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in Amphenol during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,062,000. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its position in Amphenol by 91.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 45,782 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,859,000 after purchasing an additional 21,850 shares in the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management boosted its position in Amphenol by 109.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 127,428 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $10,742,000 after purchasing an additional 66,481 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 116.3% during the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 25,179 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 13,536 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on APH. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Amphenol from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped 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 cut their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Amphenol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Amphenol from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amphenol 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,855,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $317,961,554.72. This trade represents a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Stock Down 9.2%

Shares of APH opened at $71.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $177.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.27. Amphenol Corporation has a 12 month low of $59.01 and a 12 month high of $89.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $81.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

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

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

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

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

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.