O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Makes New $451,000 Investment in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,882 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PLXS. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Plexus during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Plexus by 573.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Plexus in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Plexus by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 320 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Plexus in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PLXS shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Plexus in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Plexus from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Plexus in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $152.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Plexus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.00.

Plexus Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PLXS opened at $119.18 on Friday. 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 Corp. has a 52-week low of $92.72 and a 52-week high of $172.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.65 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $129.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.11.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Plexus Corp. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Randy J. Martinez sold 887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.52, for a total transaction of $124,641.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $678,852.12. This represents a 15.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd P. Kelsey sold 1,500 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.96, for a total value of $205,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,906,206.72. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,958 shares of company stock worth $2,551,930 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.