Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,940,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the December 15th total of 11,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on APH shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Amphenol from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Amphenol from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Amphenol from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Amphenol from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Amphenol from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard Adam Norwitt sold 900,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.81, for a total transaction of $61,975,240.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,934,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,136,890.88. The trade was a 31.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter Straub sold 132,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total value of $9,783,840.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,842,672 shares of company stock worth $128,858,080. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amphenol

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APH. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Amphenol by 91.9% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,819 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Amphenol by 100.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,431,824 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $231,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,856 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Amphenol by 87.6% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,088 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its holdings in Amphenol by 98.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 5,196 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Amphenol by 118.3% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 49,108 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,308,000 after acquiring an additional 26,612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Amphenol Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of APH traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.44. 9,780,875 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,171,896. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Amphenol has a 1-year low of $47.76 and a 1-year high of $75.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.71 billion, a PE ratio of 39.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $71.82 and a 200-day moving average of $67.75.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.05. Amphenol had a return on equity of 24.68% and a net margin of 15.40%. The business had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Amphenol will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Amphenol Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

About Amphenol

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.