Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $89.19, but opened at $94.00. Lumentum shares last traded at $91.55, with a volume of 476,306 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LITE. Raymond James raised their target price on Lumentum from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Lumentum from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $80.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $69.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.77.

Lumentum Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.90 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $87.52 and a 200 day moving average of $71.12.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.48). Lumentum had a negative return on equity of 6.79% and a negative net margin of 40.70%. The business had revenue of $336.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.94 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Lumentum news, insider Vincent Retort sold 41,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.52, for a total value of $3,733,879.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 147,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,205,542.80. The trade was a 22.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 29,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.06, for a total value of $2,542,188.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 56,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,805,209.52. This represents a 34.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,797 shares of company stock valued at $8,881,428 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lumentum

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Atreides Management LP increased its position in shares of Lumentum by 28.5% during the third quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,691,017 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,177,000 after acquiring an additional 375,389 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lumentum by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,186,163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,198,000 after purchasing an additional 15,799 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lumentum by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 738,155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,784,000 after purchasing an additional 37,109 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lumentum by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 687,311 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,700,000 after purchasing an additional 108,740 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lumentum by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 407,789 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,846,000 after purchasing an additional 136,659 shares during the period. 94.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Lumentum

Lumentum Holdings Inc manufactures and sells optical and photonic products in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through two segments: Optical Communications (OpComms) and Commercial Lasers (Lasers). The OpComms segment offers components, modules, and subsystems that enable the transmission and transport of video, audio, and data over high-capacity fiber optic cables.