Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $66.61, but opened at $70.51. Lumentum shares last traded at $71.69, with a volume of 208,528 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LITE. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lumentum from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of Lumentum from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Lumentum from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $80.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.40.

Lumentum Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.76, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.24 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.04.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.41). Lumentum had a negative return on equity of 7.25% and a negative net margin of 36.98%. On average, equities analysts predict that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 2,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.34, for a total transaction of $170,154.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,799.84. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Lumentum by 108.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,600,132 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $302,231,000 after buying an additional 1,871,572 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lumentum by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,711,956 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,719,000 after acquiring an additional 23,136 shares during the period. Atreides Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,691,017 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $107,177,000 after purchasing an additional 375,389 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lumentum by 98.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,228,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $103,122,000 after purchasing an additional 610,938 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Lumentum by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,195,605 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $100,402,000 after purchasing an additional 9,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

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.