LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) Shares Down 11% – Time to Sell?

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH)’s share price dropped 11% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $11.33 and last traded at $11.40. Approximately 1,489,488 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 2,841,505 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPTH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on LightPath Technologies from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised LightPath Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on LightPath Technologies from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.13.

LightPath Technologies Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 3.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.50. The company has a market cap of $686.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.78 and a beta of 1.26.

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $19.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 million. LightPath Technologies had a negative return on equity of 20.69% and a negative net margin of 37.38%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that LightPath Technologies, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 595,573 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total transaction of $7,462,529.69. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,393,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,519,239.35. This trade represents a 14.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,131,247 shares of company stock worth $26,122,799 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LightPath Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AWM Investment Company Inc. lifted its position in LightPath Technologies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 2,040,110 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,033,000 after purchasing an additional 592,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in LightPath Technologies by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,967,566 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 72,208 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in LightPath Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $12,939,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of LightPath Technologies by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,449,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,656,000 after acquiring an additional 181,538 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of LightPath Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,445,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.29% of the company’s stock.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc designs, manufactures and distributes precision optical components and assemblies for a variety of commercial, industrial, defense and scientific applications. The company’s portfolio includes molded glass aspheric lenses, precision glass optics, infrared lenses and assemblies, diamond-turned optics and molded polymer optics. These components are engineered to support imaging, illumination, laser delivery, detection and sensing systems across visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths.

Among its core offerings, LightPath develops infrared optical solutions using materials such as germanium, zinc selenide and chalcogenide glasses for thermal imaging, night-vision devices and spectroscopy.