Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY Position Cut by Bayforest Capital Ltd

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital trimmed its stake in Mercury Systems by 88.5% in Q4, selling 13,725 shares and leaving it with 1,790 shares valued at about $131,000.
• Mercury is dominated by institutions—95.99% of shares are institutionally owned, with Vanguard (5.73M shares, ~$443.6M) and State Street among the largest holders that increased their positions.
• Analysts are mixed (consensus rating: Hold, target $86.33), while the company recently beat Q results on revenue and EPS; however, insiders sold heavily last quarter (totaling 863,383 shares, ~$74.8M), leaving insiders with about 1.40% ownership.

Bayforest Capital Ltd trimmed its holdings in Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Free Report) by 88.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,790 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 13,725 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Mercury Systems were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury Systems by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,033 shares of the technology company's stock worth $443,582,000 after buying an additional 221,093 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Mercury Systems by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,246,573 shares of the technology company's stock worth $174,860,000 after buying an additional 259,388 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mercury Systems by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,532,822 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,640,000 after buying an additional 751,813 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Mercury Systems by 161.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,527,443 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,224,000 after buying an additional 943,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in Mercury Systems by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,295,284 shares of the technology company's stock worth $100,255,000 after buying an additional 60,483 shares in the last quarter. 95.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MRCY shares. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $102.00 price objective on Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Mercury Systems from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

MRCY opened at $83.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of -157.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.51. Mercury Systems Inc has a fifty-two week low of $44.01 and a fifty-two week high of $103.84.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $232.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.96 million. Mercury Systems had a positive return on equity of 1.28% and a negative net margin of 3.23%.The company's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercury Systems

In other news, Director Howard L. Lance sold 4,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.98, for a total transaction of $429,951.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 27,272 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,426,662.56. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp sold 100,899 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.68, for a total value of $9,048,622.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,114,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $368,998,942.24. This represents a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 863,383 shares of company stock worth $74,789,584. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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