Plexus’ (PLXS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $160.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

PLXS has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $145.00 price target on Plexus in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $162.00 price target (down from $172.00) on shares of Plexus in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Plexus presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.67.

Plexus Stock Performance

Shares of PLXS stock opened at $132.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $126.11 and a 200 day moving average of $140.53. Plexus has a 1 year low of $100.96 and a 1 year high of $172.89.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $980.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $980.07 million. Plexus had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 3.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Plexus will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Karen Marie Rapp sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.77, for a total transaction of $65,385.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,365 shares in the company, valued at $1,224,661.05. This trade represents a 5.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael J. Running sold 646 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.05, for a total value of $84,012.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at $81,931.50. This trade represents a 50.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,032 shares of company stock worth $1,582,222 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plexus

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Plexus by 139.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,786 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,669,000 after buying an additional 28,406 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Plexus by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Plexus in the 4th quarter worth about $783,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Plexus in the 4th quarter worth about $928,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Plexus by 170.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 8,508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 5,363 shares during the last quarter. 94.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Plexus Company Profile

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.