Portolan Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY

Key Points

• Portolan Capital Management opened a new position in Mercury Systems (NASDAQ: MRCY), purchasing 44,864 shares valued at about $3.47 million, equal to roughly 0.07% ownership.
• Other large institutions materially increased stakes—Vanguard, Invesco and First Trust all added significant shares—leaving 95.99% of the stock held by institutional investors.
• Mercury beat the quarter with $0.16 EPS (vs. $0.07 est.) and $232.9M revenue, but it still has a negative net margin and a negative P/E, and analysts hold a mixed consensus ("Hold") with a $86.89 average price target.

Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,864 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,472,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Mercury Systems as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MRCY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Mercury Systems by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,033 shares of the technology company's stock worth $443,582,000 after purchasing an additional 221,093 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Mercury Systems by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,246,573 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $174,860,000 after buying an additional 259,388 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 751,813 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 161.7% during 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 lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,234,801 shares of the technology company's stock worth $66,506,000 after acquiring an additional 38,755 shares during the period. 95.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

Shares of MRCY opened at $78.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm's 50 day moving average is $90.06 and its 200-day moving average is $79.34. Mercury Systems Inc has a 12-month low of $39.89 and a 12-month high of $103.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -147.47, a P/E/G ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.77.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 negative net margin of 3.23% and a positive return on equity of 1.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Mercury Systems Inc will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRCY. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Mercury Systems from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $86.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp sold 100,899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.68, for a total transaction of $9,048,622.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,114,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $368,998,942.24. This represents a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stuart Kupinsky sold 2,287 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $191,101.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 68,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,682,915.60. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 859,758 shares of company stock worth $74,481,931 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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