North Star Asset Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)

North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,085 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.1% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 3,848 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,267 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. FCA Corp TX boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 3.4% during the third quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 14,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Plexus by 25.6% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,417 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.45% of the company’s stock.

Plexus Price Performance

PLXS stock opened at $94.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.37. Plexus Corp. has a 52-week low of $83.84 and a 52-week high of $114.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The technology company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.01). Plexus had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business had revenue of $982.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $982.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. Plexus’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Plexus Corp. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,399 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.86, for a total transaction of $439,284.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,544,029.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Angelo Michael Ninivaggi, Jr. sold 3,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.18, for a total transaction of $358,982.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,972,232.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Patrick John Jermain sold 4,399 shares of Plexus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.86, for a total transaction of $439,284.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,544,029.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,453 shares of company stock worth $3,112,875. Insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sidoti lowered shares of Plexus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. TheStreet lowered shares of Plexus from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Plexus in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Plexus from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.67.

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.