Royce & Associates LP Makes New $493,000 Investment in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Royce & Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,151 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its position in Plexus by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,168,512 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $296,457,000 after buying an additional 59,465 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Plexus in the 4th quarter valued at about $107,489,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Plexus by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 653,759 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $89,392,000 after purchasing an additional 4,926 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Plexus by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 421,903 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 138,367 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $21,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares during the period. 94.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Plexus

In other Plexus news, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.39, for a total transaction of $234,585.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,271 shares in the company, valued at $11,615,241.69. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.14, for a total transaction of $496,814.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,281,775.14. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,458 shares of company stock worth $2,786,515. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Plexus Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of PLXS opened at $128.21 on Friday. Plexus Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.87 and a 52 week high of $172.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The technology company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.10). Plexus had a net margin of 3.03% and a return on equity of 10.36%. On average, analysts forecast that Plexus Corp. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PLXS. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Plexus in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Plexus in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Plexus from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Plexus presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.00.

Plexus Company Profile

Plexus Corp. provides electronic manufacturing services in the United States and internationally. It offers design, develop, supply chain, new product introduction, and manufacturing solutions, as well as sustaining services to companies in the healthcare/life sciences, industrial/commercial, aerospace/defense, and communications market sectors.