Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Increases Position in Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 361,423 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,744 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Avnet were worth $18,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in Avnet by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 53,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Avnet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 50,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Avnet in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avnet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 123,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,454 shares during the period. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avnet by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 42,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 10,500 shares during the period. 95.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Avnet from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.50.

Avnet Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AVT traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $50.10. The company had a trading volume of 534,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,138. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Avnet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.64 and a 52-week high of $51.65.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. Avnet had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 2.62%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Avnet, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

Avnet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.13%.

Avnet Profile

Avnet, Inc, distributes electronic component technology. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Components and Farnell. The Electronic Components segment markets, sells, and distributes semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components; and other integrated components from electronic component manufacturers.