Walter Public Investments Inc. Buys New Shares in Amphenol Corporation $APH

Walter Public Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 67,264 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,670,000. Amphenol makes up 1.4% of Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Amphenol by 24.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,281,059 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $12,107,146,000 after acquiring an additional 13,884,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Amphenol by 10.5% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,579,919 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,923,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,248 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP raised its position in Amphenol by 3,010.0% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 16,437,431 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,898,248,000 after acquiring an additional 15,908,901 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Amphenol by 4.5% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,703,604 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,710,939,000 after acquiring an additional 416,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Amphenol in the second quarter valued at $1,600,531,000. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on APH shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price 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. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Amphenol from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Amphenol in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Amphenol from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $197.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Friday, October 30th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amphenol presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $107.00.

Amphenol Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:APH opened at $79.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Amphenol Corporation has a 12 month low of $59.01 and a 12 month high of $89.93.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Amphenol’s quarterly revenue was up 65.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amphenol Corporation will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 22nd. This is a negative change 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%. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.74%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amphenol news, CEO Richard Norwitt sold 799,576 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.48, for a total value of $65,949,028.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,855,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,961,554.72. This represents a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol 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.