Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Monday, Market Beat.com reports.

According to Zacks, “The global distributor of electronic components and computer products, Avnet posted better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2016 results. Year-over-year revenue comparison was also favorable primarily due to growth in TS and EM business. Also, Avnet’s leading position in electronics distribution, cost cutting initiatives and acquisition synergies are encouraging. However, the company provided a modest guidance for the forthcoming quarter. Moreover, a significant portion of the company’s revenues comes from the sale of semiconductors, which is a cyclical industry characterized by changes in technology and manufacturing capacity and is subject to significant market upturns and downturns.”

A number of hedge funds and institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVT. Meeder Asset Management boosted its position in Avnet by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management now owns 98,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,212,000 after buying an additional 18,830 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of Avnet by 141.0% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 87,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,757,000 after buying an additional 51,300 shares during the period. River & Mercantile Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Avnet during the fourth quarter worth about $2,026,000. Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of Avnet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 38,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 1,504 shares during the period. Finally, ID Management A boosted its position in shares of Avnet by 650.0% in the fourth quarter. ID Management A now owns 30,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,285,000 after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the period.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Longbow Research upgraded Avnet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Avnet in a research report on Sunday, November 1st. Finally, Brean Capital assumed coverage on Avnet in a research report on Friday, October 30th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.17.

Shares of Avnet (NYSE:AVT) traded down 0.72% on Monday, reaching $38.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,038,041 shares. Avnet has a 12 month low of $36.42 and a 12 month high of $47.27. The firm has a market cap of $5.13 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.04 and a 200-day moving average of $42.92.

Avnet (NYSE:AVT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.09. The business earned $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Avnet will post $4.75 EPS for the current year.

Avnet, Inc. distributes electronic components, enterprise computer and storage products, information technology solutions and services, and embedded subsystems. The Company operates in two segments: Electronics Marketing (NYSE:AVT) and Technology Solutions (TS). Both operating groups have operations in each of the three economic regions of the world: the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia/Pacific, consisting of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The EM segment markets and sells semiconductors and interconnect, passive and electromechanical devices, and embedded products to a diverse customer base serving many end-markets. The TS segment focuses on the distribution of enterprise computing servers and systems, software, storage, services and complex solutions from the technology manufacturers. The TS segment also provides hard disk drives, microprocessor, motherboard and dynamic random-access memory module technologies to manufacturers of computers and system builders.

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