Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Key Points

• Big institutional reshuffling: Blair William & Co. IL cut its Mercury stake by 35.6% in Q3 (selling 44,527 shares to 80,520 shares, ~$6.23M) while First Trust Advisors nearly doubled its holding to 1,532,822 shares, and institutional investors now own about 95.99% of the stock.
• Heavy insider selling: Jana Partners sold 400,000 shares at $81 (~$32.4M), and insiders have sold 859,758 shares worth $74.48M over the last three months, leaving insiders with roughly 1.40% ownership.
• Recent results and mixed outlook: Mercury beat the quarter with $0.16 EPS (vs. $0.07 est.) and $232.9M revenue (vs. $210M est.), but still posts a negative net margin and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" with an average target of $86.89.

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in shares of Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Free Report) by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,520 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 44,527 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.13% of Mercury Systems worth $6,232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,532,822 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,640,000 after purchasing an additional 751,813 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mercury Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mercury Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,862,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Mercury Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $367,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mercury Systems by 21.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 875,279 shares of the technology company's stock worth $67,747,000 after buying an additional 153,946 shares in the last quarter. 95.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Mercury Systems

In other news, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp sold 400,000 shares of Mercury Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $32,400,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,566,675 shares of the company's stock, valued at $369,900,675. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stuart Kupinsky sold 2,287 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $191,101.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 68,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,682,915.60. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 859,758 shares of company stock worth $74,481,931 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mercury Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRCY opened at $86.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of -163.91, a PEG ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.59 and a 200 day moving average of $79.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.96. Mercury Systems Inc has a one year low of $39.89 and a one year high of $103.84.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.09. Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 3.23% and a positive return on equity of 1.28%. The company had revenue of $232.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $209.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Mercury Systems Inc will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRCY has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Mercury Systems from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $102.00 price target on Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Mercury Systems has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.89.

Mercury Systems Company Profile

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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