Polymer Capital Management US LLC Takes $223,000 Position in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,427 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Plexus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $107,489,000. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in Plexus in the third quarter valued at $332,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Plexus by 139.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,786 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,669,000 after acquiring an additional 28,406 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Plexus during the third quarter valued at $683,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Plexus by 614.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,941 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 11,989 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PLXS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Plexus from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Plexus in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Plexus in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.00.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of PLXS stock opened at $110.95 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $130.66 and its 200-day moving average is $145.39. Plexus Corp. has a 1 year low of $92.72 and a 1 year high of $172.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Plexus

In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,423 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,281,775.14. The trade was a 10.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael J. Running sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.62, for a total value of $173,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,879.12. This represents a 49.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,958 shares of company stock worth $2,551,930. Company insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

About Plexus

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.