Morgan Stanley Cuts Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Price Target to $81.00

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

LITE has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Lumentum in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $80.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Lumentum from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Lumentum from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Lumentum from $69.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.77.

Lumentum Stock Performance

LITE stock opened at $85.06 on Friday. Lumentum has a 1-year low of $38.28 and a 1-year high of $104.00. 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.27 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.57.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($0.35) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $336.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lumentum will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum

In other news, Director Harold L. Covert sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.17, for a total value of $1,307,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,761 shares in the company, valued at $763,696.37. This represents a 63.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $3,733,879.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 147,515 shares in the company, valued at $13,205,542.80. The trade was a 22.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lumentum

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LITE. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Lumentum by 301.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Lumentum by 85.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Lumentum in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lumentum during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 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.