Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) Earns Buy Rating from Benchmark

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Benchmark in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.63% from the stock’s current price.

PLXS has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Plexus from $136.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Plexus from $144.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Plexus in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Plexus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $159.00.

Plexus Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PLXS opened at $153.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.51. Plexus has a fifty-two week low of $90.18 and a fifty-two week high of $172.89. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $162.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.25.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The technology company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.10). Plexus had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 2.82%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Plexus will post 6.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,113 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.19, for a total value of $448,863.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,093,223.37. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Victor (Pang Hau) Tan sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.90, for a total value of $497,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,869.50. The trade was a 34.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,091 shares of company stock valued at $5,377,960 over the last quarter. 1.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLXS. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Plexus by 573.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Plexus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Plexus in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Plexus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Plexus during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

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.