18,400 Shares in Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY Acquired by Manatuck Hill Partners LLC

Manatuck Hill Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 18,400 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,251,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Mercury Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,146,342,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury Systems during the second quarter worth about $17,454,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury Systems during the second quarter worth about $4,866,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Mercury Systems in the first quarter worth about $1,706,000. Finally, One Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 29,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 8,893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Mercury Systems

Here are the key news stories impacting Mercury Systems this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares as of August 25, unchanged from zero shares previously, with a 0.0-day days-to-cover ratio. Because the data also reports an invalid “NaN” percentage change, it provides little useful signal for investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: A law firm is asking Mercury Systems shareholders to discuss their rights and options regarding alleged potential fiduciary-duty breaches. The release is an investor solicitation rather than a confirmed regulatory finding or lawsuit outcome, but it may add headline risk. Shareholder fiduciary-duty solicitation
• Negative Sentiment: CEO William L. Ballhaus sold 65,000 shares for approximately $6.0 million on August 21 at an average price of $92.41, reducing his direct ownership by 20.25%. He sold another 108,209 shares for approximately $9.7 million on August 24 at an average price of $89.50, a 26.52% reduction in ownership. The combined sales of roughly $15.7 million can be viewed as a lack of confidence by some investors, even though insider sales can also reflect diversification or personal financial planning. CEO SEC Form 4 filings
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Stuart Kupinsky sold 1,000 shares for $95,230, while EVP Steven Ratner sold 356 shares for $32,524. Kupinsky’s transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which somewhat reduces its signaling value, but the additional executive selling reinforces the near-term bearish narrative. Executive SEC Form 4 filings

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MRCY stock opened at $87.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -175.48 and a beta of 0.95. Mercury Systems Inc has a one year low of $65.04 and a one year high of $128.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.96.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 18th. The technology company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.01). Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 3.02% and a positive return on equity of 1.29%. The firm had revenue of $289.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Mercury Systems

In related news, EVP David E. Farnsworth sold 8,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.31, for a total transaction of $818,028.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 124,579 shares in the company, valued at $12,496,519.49. This trade represents a 6.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Steven Ratner sold 2,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.31, for a total value of $219,377.97. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,301 shares in the company, valued at $2,437,633.31. This trade represents a 8.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 286,020 shares of company stock worth $27,381,750. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRCY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Friday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Mercury Systems to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Mercury Systems from $106.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Mercury Systems from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Mercury Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.10.

About Mercury Systems

Mercury Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: MRCY) is a technology company that designs, manufactures and markets secure processing subsystems for aerospace and defense applications. The company’s products are built to address the stringent security, safety and reliability requirements of mission-critical programs, with a focus on radar, electronic warfare, intelligence and other sensor and processing functions. Mercury’s offerings encompass rugged embedded computing modules, high-performance radio frequency (RF) and microwave components, digital signal processing subsystems and secure networking solutions.

Since its origins in advanced signal processing, Mercury Systems has expanded its capabilities through a combination of internal development and targeted acquisitions.