Ethic Inc. Acquires 95,333 Shares of Amphenol Corporation $APH

Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) by 94.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 196,262 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,333 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Amphenol were worth $16,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its holdings in Amphenol by 3,010.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Amphenol by 24.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,281,059 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $12,107,146,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,641 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the second quarter valued at about $1,600,531,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amphenol by 90.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Amphenol by 101.6% during the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,720,515 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $313,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of APH stock opened at $74.67 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $81.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.47, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.27. Amphenol Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $59.01 and a fifty-two week high of $89.93.

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

Amphenol declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 28th that allows the company to buy back $4 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the electronics maker to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 22nd will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a decrease from Amphenol’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 22nd. Amphenol’s payout ratio is 26.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target (up from $112.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Amphenol in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amphenol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Amphenol from $107.50 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Amphenol from $190.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amphenol has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $108.32.

Amphenol Company 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.

Founded in 1932, Amphenol has grown into a global manufacturer serving customers across the Americas, Europe and Asia.