Short Interest in Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) Expands By 19.0%

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

Insider Activity at Amphenol

In other Amphenol news, VP David M. Silverman sold 180,000 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.84, for a total transaction of $12,391,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $963,760. The trade was a 92.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard Adam Norwitt sold 900,672 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.81, for a total transaction of $61,975,240.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,934,848 shares in the company, valued at $133,136,890.88. This represents a 31.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,842,672 shares of company stock worth $128,858,080. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amphenol

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APH. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Amphenol by 116.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,833,128 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $662,458,000 after buying an additional 5,293,292 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,303,215 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $280,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,032,402 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $113,828,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 100.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,431,824 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $231,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,856 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Amphenol by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 53,534,216 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,496,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Amphenol from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Amphenol from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Amphenol from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Amphenol from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Amphenol from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.79.

Amphenol Stock Performance

Shares of Amphenol stock traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.44. The company had a trading volume of 9,780,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,171,896. The stock has a market cap of $83.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.91, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.75. Amphenol has a 12-month low of $47.76 and a 12-month high of $75.78.

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electronics maker reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. Amphenol had a net margin of 15.40% and a return on equity of 24.68%. Amphenol’s revenue was up 26.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Amphenol will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amphenol Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Amphenol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

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.