Morse Asset Management Inc Buys New Stake in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 14,895 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,034,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Amphenol in the fourth quarter valued at $1,378,794,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Amphenol by 294.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 24,953,591 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,733,027,000 after buying an additional 18,619,417 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Amphenol by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 58,911,813 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,091,426,000 after buying an additional 15,837,407 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Amphenol by 619.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,014,111 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $487,130,000 after buying an additional 6,039,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Amphenol by 118.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,256,290 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $503,975,000 after buying an additional 3,933,269 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Amphenol

In related news, insider Luc Walter sold 390,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.91, for a total value of $29,604,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 447,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,991,738.90. This represents a 46.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David M. Silverman sold 87,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.03, for a total value of $7,002,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,000,375. This represents a 87.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,178,500 shares of company stock valued at $241,903,805. Corporate insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on APH. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $73.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Fox Advisors raised shares of Amphenol from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Amphenol from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.62.

Amphenol Stock Up 4.4%

APH stock opened at $84.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Amphenol Co. has a 52 week low of $54.77 and a 52 week high of $84.98.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.11. Amphenol had a net margin of 15.92% and a return on equity of 25.67%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Amphenol’s revenue was up 47.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Amphenol Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.04%.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems.