Royce & Associates LP Trims Position in Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP trimmed its Mercury Systems position by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 197,079 shares valued at about $14.4 million.
• Mercury Systems reported a strong earnings beat for the quarter, posting $0.27 EPS versus $0.06 expected and revenue of $235.76 million, up 11.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but generally constructive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy rating with an average price target of $89.89, even as some firms remain bearish and company insiders have recently sold shares.

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 197,079 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,380 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.33% of Mercury Systems worth $14,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 161.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,527,443 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,224,000 after acquiring an additional 943,736 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 96.3% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,532,822 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,640,000 after acquiring an additional 751,813 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 51.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 855,441 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,861,000 after buying an additional 290,989 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 118,133.6% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 274,302 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $21,232,000 after buying an additional 274,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 8.7% during the second 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 last quarter. 95.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MRCY shares. Truist Financial raised Mercury Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Mercury Systems from $102.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Mercury Systems from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned 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 "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.89.

Mercury Systems Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of MRCY stock opened at $97.11 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $83.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 3.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of -404.63 and a beta of 0.83. Mercury Systems Inc has a fifty-two week low of $47.53 and a fifty-two week high of $103.84.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $235.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.56 million. Mercury Systems had a positive return on equity of 2.22% and a negative net margin of 1.46%.The company's revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David E. Farnsworth sold 3,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total value of $307,653.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 157,701 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,384,083.87. This represents a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Steven Ratner sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.46, for a total value of $184,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,238 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,725.48. The trade was a 5.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 473,932 shares of company stock valued at $43,453,119. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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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