AQR Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Sanmina Co. (NASDAQ:SANM)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Sanmina Co. (NASDAQ:SANM) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,298 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 14,174 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sanmina were worth $5,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sanmina during the fourth quarter worth about $48,823,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Sanmina by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,842,302 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $139,407,000 after purchasing an additional 522,534 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Sanmina by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,025 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $148,239,000 after acquiring an additional 243,258 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sanmina by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 675,191 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,092,000 after purchasing an additional 165,285 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Sanmina by 88.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 264,829 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $20,040,000 after buying an additional 124,190 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Sanmina

In other news, Director Mario M. Rosati sold 11,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.02, for a total transaction of $979,853.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 80,295 shares in the company, valued at $6,906,975.90. The trade was a 12.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SANM. StockNews.com downgraded Sanmina from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Sanmina from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th.

Sanmina Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ SANM opened at $80.54 on Friday. Sanmina Co. has a 1-year low of $61.52 and a 1-year high of $91.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10.

Sanmina (NASDAQ:SANM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The electronics maker reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Sanmina had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 10.61%. Sanmina’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sanmina Co. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sanmina declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 27th that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the electronics maker to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Sanmina Company Profile

Sanmina Corporation provides integrated manufacturing solutions, components, products and repair, logistics, and after-market services worldwide. It operates in two businesses, Integrated Manufacturing Solutions; and Components, Products and Services. The company offers product design and engineering, including concept development, detailed design, prototyping, validation, preproduction, manufacturing design release, and product industrialization; assembly and test services; direct order fulfillment and logistics services; after-market product service and support; and supply chain management services, as well as engages in the manufacturing of components, subassemblies, and complete systems.