Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Invests $218,000 in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,199 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in APH. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 55.2% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,376,669 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $199,616,000 after buying an additional 845,637 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 21.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,090,708 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $343,579,000 after buying an additional 729,849 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 1.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 55,500,422 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,661,480,000 after buying an additional 691,964 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,279,911 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,283,360,000 after buying an additional 653,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 4.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,145,093 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,104,056,000 after buying an additional 564,110 shares in the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amphenol Price Performance

APH traded up $1.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $120.49. 4,172,919 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,505,085. The company’s 50-day moving average is $112.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.70. The company has a market cap of $72.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Amphenol Co. has a 12-month low of $72.77 and a 12-month high of $121.25.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The electronics maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.07. Amphenol had a return on equity of 23.85% and a net margin of 15.87%. The business had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Amphenol Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the electronics maker to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Amphenol’s payout ratio is currently 26.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amphenol

In other Amphenol news, insider William J. Doherty sold 170,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.50, for a total value of $17,595,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Lance E. D’amico sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.75, for a total transaction of $1,571,250.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,692,075. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider William J. Doherty sold 170,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.50, for a total value of $17,595,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 305,000 shares of company stock valued at $31,846,050 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on APH. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Amphenol from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Amphenol from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on Amphenol from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Amphenol in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Amphenol from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.83.

Amphenol 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.