Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Shares Up 10.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE)’s share price shot up 10.7% during trading on Wednesday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $635.00 to $700.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Lumentum traded as high as $678.67 and last traded at $648.06. Approximately 6,213,774 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 5,592,689 shares. The stock had previously closed at $585.57.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Lumentum from $1,200.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Evercore began coverage on Lumentum in a research report on Monday, August 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,100.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lumentum from $900.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Lumentum from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $1,328.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Lumentum from $1,040.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lumentum currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,053.17.

Insider Activity at Lumentum

In other Lumentum news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 24,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,048.50, for a total value of $25,732,287.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 75,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,715,089. This represents a 24.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Yuen Wupen sold 307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $945.00, for a total transaction of $290,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 108,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,362,400. The trade was a 0.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 94,496 shares of company stock valued at $85,978,498. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Lumentum

These are some of the LITE headlines that stood out recently:

• Neutral Sentiment: A shareholder law firm announced an investigation involving Lumentum. The notice invites investors to contact the firm and does not itself establish wrongdoing or indicate a specific financial outcome. Shareholder investigation notice
• Negative Sentiment: Lumentum shares slipped ahead of the market open as investors and deal specialists gave Marvell’s acquisition plan a lukewarm early reception. Because the offer is tied to Marvell’s stock, its falling share price has also reduced the implied value of the deal, adding uncertainty for Lumentum investors. Stock Movers report
• Negative Sentiment: UBS cut its price target sharply, from $960 to $686, and moved to a “neutral” rating—another sign of caution about the near-term risk and deal outlook. UBS rating

Institutional Trading of Lumentum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the second quarter valued at $1,621,396,000. Amundi increased its position in Lumentum by 188.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 658,427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $564,970,000 after purchasing an additional 430,355 shares during the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Lumentum in the 2nd quarter worth about $494,688,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Lumentum by 163.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 567,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $398,590,000 after purchasing an additional 351,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Lumentum during the 2nd quarter worth about $376,539,000. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lumentum Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $881.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $803.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company has a market capitalization of $58.78 billion, a PE ratio of -8.23 and a beta of 1.64.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The technology company reported $4.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. Lumentum had a positive return on equity of 28.85% and a negative net margin of 175.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 136.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 19.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Lumentum Company Profile

Lumentum Holdings Inc. develops and manufactures optical and photonic products used in communications networks and industrial applications. Its offerings include optical components, modules and lasers that help transmit and process data across telecommunications and data center networks. The company also supplies lasers and related technologies for industrial uses, including precision manufacturing and semiconductor production. Its products serve customers in markets around the world. Lumentum became an independent public company in 2015 through a spin-off from JDSU, now Viavi Solutions.