The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases Shares of 57,596 Avnet, Inc. $AVT

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Avnet, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVT) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 57,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,116,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Avnet in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Avnet in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. BOKF NA grew its holdings in shares of Avnet by 1,116.7% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 584 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Avnet during the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avnet by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. 95.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Avnet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Avnet from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Avnet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Avnet from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avnet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avnet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avnet news, CEO Philip R. Gallagher sold 51,900 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.46, for a total value of $5,110,074.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,632,158.58. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael Ryan Mccoy sold 32,052 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.10, for a total value of $2,919,937.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 76,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,985,001.40. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Avnet Stock Up 1.0%

Avnet stock opened at $89.56 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.38. Avnet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.25 and a fifty-two week high of $100.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.48. Avnet had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 1.21%.The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. Avnet has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.800-2.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avnet, Inc. will post 10.45 EPS for the current year.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 9th. Avnet’s dividend payout ratio is 35.09%.

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.