Earnest Partners LLC Sells 19,549 Shares of Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

Earnest Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 765,122 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,549 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 2.79% of Plexus worth $72,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PLXS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Plexus by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Plexus by 56.2% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 976 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Plexus during the 1st quarter worth about $378,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Plexus by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 23,461 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Plexus in the 1st quarter valued at about $515,000. 94.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PLXS. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Plexus from $114.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Plexus from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on Plexus from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Plexus Price Performance

Shares of PLXS stock traded down $3.48 during trading on Monday, hitting $126.37. The company had a trading volume of 134,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 126,320. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $109.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.39. Plexus Corp. has a one year low of $87.21 and a one year high of $132.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.91 and a beta of 0.90.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $960.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $981.32 million. Plexus had a return on equity of 9.64% and a net margin of 2.82%. Plexus’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Plexus Corp. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Plexus

In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 2,250 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.66, for a total value of $230,985.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,958,569.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.66, for a total value of $230,985.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 38,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,958,569.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,999 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $549,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,130. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,386 shares of company stock valued at $3,647,784. Company insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Plexus 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.