ARGA Investment Management LP Increases Stock Holdings in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)

ARGA Investment Management LP raised its position in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,717 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,538 shares during the quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in TE Connectivity were worth $1,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TEL. Optas LLC boosted its holdings in TE Connectivity by 4.2% in the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in shares of TE Connectivity by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 2,478 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TE Connectivity by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of TE Connectivity by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,530 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in TE Connectivity by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. 91.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of TE Connectivity from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised TE Connectivity from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on TE Connectivity from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. HSBC raised TE Connectivity from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $166.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of TE Connectivity from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Shadrak W. Kroeger sold 3,889 shares of TE Connectivity stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $587,744.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,976 shares in the company, valued at $3,925,752.88. The trade was a 13.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

TE Connectivity Stock Performance

NYSE:TEL opened at $144.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $43.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $147.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.49. TE Connectivity Ltd. has a 1-year low of $137.61 and a 1-year high of $159.98.

TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The electronics maker reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. TE Connectivity had a net margin of 12.10% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that TE Connectivity Ltd. will post 7.96 EPS for the current year.

TE Connectivity announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the electronics maker to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About TE Connectivity

TE Connectivity Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaPacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions.