Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Lumentum Holdings Inc. $LITE

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC opened a new position in Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE), buying 1,266 shares in Q4 valued at about $467,000.
• Institutional investors own 94.05% of the stock, with large moves including Federated Hermes adding 357,367 shares (~$58.96M) and multiple multi‑million dollar new positions from firms like FengHe, Mirae Asset and Headwater.
• Lumentum beat quarterly expectations (EPS $1.67 vs. $1.41; revenue $665.5M, +65.5% y/y), but insiders sold roughly 65,775 shares (~$38.85M) recently; analysts have raised targets (Needham $1,040, Susquehanna $1,100) and the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with a $757.25 target.

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,266 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Lumentum by 7,168.8% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 362,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $58,958,000 after purchasing an additional 357,367 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lumentum in the fourth quarter worth $6,755,000. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lumentum in the third quarter worth $71,771,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Lumentum in the third quarter worth $1,512,000. Finally, Headwater Capital Co Ltd purchased a new position in Lumentum in the third quarter worth $20,339,000. 94.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lumentum

In other Lumentum news, Director Penny Herscher sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $597.29, for a total value of $2,389,160.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,228,625.53. This represents a 66.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 5,302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $691.13, for a total transaction of $3,664,371.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 66,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,812,934.31. The trade was a 7.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 65,775 shares of company stock valued at $38,851,343 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company's stock.

Lumentum Price Performance

Shares of LITE opened at $859.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.34 billion, a PE ratio of 263.53 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.80 and a 1-year high of $960.00. The company's fifty day moving average price is $745.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $471.72.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.74 million. Lumentum had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 65.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Lumentum has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.150-2.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Lumentum from $880.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Lumentum to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Lumentum from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $147.00 to $526.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Lumentum from $550.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Lumentum from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lumentum currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $757.25.

About Lumentum

Lumentum Holdings Inc, headquartered in San Jose, California, is a leading provider of photonic technologies that enable high-speed optical communication networks and advanced industrial applications. The company designs and manufactures a broad range of lasers, optical modules and subsystems tailored to the evolving requirements of telecommunications carriers, cloud data centers and enterprise networking.

Its core product portfolio includes tunable and fixed-wavelength laser transmitters, coherent optical engines, transceivers for long-haul, metro and data center interconnects, as well as test and measurement instruments.

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