Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $82.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $96.00.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on LITE. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Lumentum from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Lumentum in a report on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lumentum from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lumentum from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Lumentum from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given 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

Shares of Lumentum stock opened at $73.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 4.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. Lumentum has a 52 week low of $38.29 and a 52 week high of $104.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.57 and a beta of 1.03.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Lumentum will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 2,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.34, for a total transaction of $170,154.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,976 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,799.84. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lumentum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LITE. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Lumentum by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 64,170 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,387,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum during the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lumentum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $899,000. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Lumentum by 377.7% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 282,055 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,679,000 after purchasing an additional 223,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Lumentum by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 243,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,450,000 after purchasing an additional 57,000 shares in the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.