Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) Upgraded by Bank of America to “Neutral” Rating

Bank of America upgraded shares of Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $96.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $66.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AVT. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Avnet to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Avnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Avnet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Avnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Avnet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Avnet Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of AVT opened at $86.22 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Avnet has a 12-month low of $44.25 and a 12-month high of $86.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.15. Avnet had a net margin of 0.86% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Avnet’s quarterly revenue was up 34.0% on a year-over-year basis. Avnet has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.700-1.800 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avnet will post 4.92 EPS for the current year.

Avnet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Philip R. Gallagher sold 23,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.92, for a total transaction of $1,983,446.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 145,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,023,648.76. This represents a 14.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avnet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avnet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,783,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,738,000 after purchasing an additional 214,290 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Avnet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,885,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,655,000 after purchasing an additional 22,137 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avnet by 3.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,751,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,140,000 after purchasing an additional 124,466 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Avnet by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,961,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,394,000 after purchasing an additional 695,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Avnet by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,811,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,161,000 after purchasing an additional 197,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.78% of the company’s stock.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc (NASDAQ: AVT) is a global technology distributor and solutions provider specializing in the sourcing, design, and supply chain management of electronic components and embedded systems. The company offers a broad portfolio of semiconductors, interconnect, passive and electromechanical components, as well as embedded hardware and software, cloud solutions, and Internet of Things (IoT) services. Avnet’s offerings aim to support customers through every stage of the product lifecycle, from initial prototype and design to production and end-of-life management.

Founded in 1921 by Charles Avnet, the company has evolved from a regional radio parts supplier into a multinational enterprise.