Westport Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 9,500 Lumentum Holdings Inc. $LITE

Key Points

• Westport Asset Management acquired 9,500 Lumentum shares worth approximately $8.15 million, making Lumentum its 10th-largest holding and about 3.3% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 94.05% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 13 analysts rate Lumentum a Buy and seven rate it Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $1,044.67. Analysts cite accelerating AI networking and hyperscale data-center demand, though the stock’s high valuation remains a risk.
• Lumentum’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with adjusted EPS of $3.23 versus a $2.97 consensus and revenue of $1.01 billion, up 109.3% year over year. The stock recently traded at $827.60 after falling 5.2%, while insiders reported $8.99 million in sales over the past 90 days under pre-arranged plans.

Westport Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,500 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $8,152,000. Lumentum makes up about 3.3% of Westport Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Lumentum during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Sachetta LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 118.8% in the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 35 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in Lumentum by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 76 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Lumentum during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Lumentum during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 94.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on LITE. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $800.00 to $820.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lumentum from $750.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of Lumentum from $900.00 to $1,150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $1,100.00 to $1,140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Lumentum from $1,040.00 to $1,300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lumentum has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,044.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Isaac Hosojiro Harris sold 1,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,000.08, for a total value of $1,416,113.28. Following the sale, the director owned 6,984 shares in the company, valued at $6,984,558.72. This represents a 16.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vincent Retort sold 3,183 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $909.43, for a total transaction of $2,894,715.69. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $104,125,187.85. This trade represents a 2.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 9,965 shares of company stock valued at $8,993,110 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.43% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Lumentum

Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI networking demand is accelerating. Analysts say rising adoption of near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO), along with demand from hyperscale data centers, could drive substantial revenue growth and margin expansion. One analysis expects fiscal 2027 revenue to more than double, while also highlighting opportunities in both merchant and custom chips. Lumentum Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Lumentum compares favorably with other AI technology stocks. Recent coverage points to steadier quarter-over-quarter revenue expansion than C3.ai and stronger growth prospects than Applied Optoelectronics, supporting the view that Lumentum is a preferred way to invest in optical networking. AAOI versus Lumentum
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains favorable, but valuation is demanding. Lumentum has a broad “Moderate Buy” consensus and several price-target increases, yet its approximately 11.4-times sales multiple leaves the stock vulnerable to profit-taking if growth expectations weaken. Lumentum Moderate Buy Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide AI risk aversion is the immediate pressure. Reports involving Anthropic and a Wall Street Journal article triggered a selloff in optics and AI hardware shares, raising concerns about the pace or durability of AI infrastructure spending. Optics Stocks Drop on Anthropic News
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling adds a modest sentiment headwind. Two executives sold shares under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards. Because the sales were planned and the executives retained sizable positions, they appear less significant than discretionary selling. Lumentum Insider Sale

Lumentum Trading Down 5.2%

Lumentum stock opened at $827.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Lumentum Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $111.20 and a 52 week high of $1,085.68. The company has a market capitalization of $74.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.07 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $811.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $786.24.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The technology company reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.26. Lumentum had a negative net margin of 230.15% and a positive return on equity of 26.34%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $987.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Lumentum's quarterly revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. Lumentum has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 4.050-4.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 16.97 EPS for the current year.

Lumentum Profile

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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