Insider Selling: Kopin (NASDAQ:KOPN) CEO Sells 187,920 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• CEO Michael Andrew Murray sold 187,920 shares at an average price of $2.80 (total proceeds $526,176) under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his stake by 6.02% to 2,931,122 shares (worth ~ $8.21M).
• Shares traded up 7.4% to $2.92 on heavy volume (5.48M vs. avg. 3.06M); the company beat EPS expectations with $0.04 but missed revenue ($8.37M vs. $12.98M) and remains unprofitable with negative margins.
• Analyst and institutional picture is mixed: the consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $4.69, though some brokers have cut ratings to sell, and institutional investors own about 30.96% of the stock with major position increases by firms like State Street and Vanguard.

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ:KOPN - Get Free Report) CEO Michael Andrew Murray sold 187,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.80, for a total transaction of $526,176.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,931,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,207,141.60. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Kopin Trading Up 7.4%

Shares of Kopin stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $2.92. The stock had a trading volume of 5,481,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,055,254. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $532.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 292.29 and a beta of 2.73. Kopin Corporation has a 1 year low of $0.81 and a 1 year high of $4.16.

Kopin (NASDAQ:KOPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 13th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.06. Kopin had a negative return on equity of 30.97% and a negative net margin of 13.81%.The business had revenue of $8.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.98 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kopin Corporation will post -0.14 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KOPN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Kopin in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Kopin from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $4.69.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kopin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KOPN. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kopin by 224.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,119,885 shares of the company's stock worth $26,021,000 after acquiring an additional 7,687,358 shares during the period. Telemark Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kopin by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 7,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $16,380,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kopin by 106.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,497,900 shares of the company's stock worth $5,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,632 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in Kopin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,925,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Kopin by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,264 shares of the company's stock worth $22,784,000 after acquiring an additional 945,662 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.96% of the company's stock.

Kopin Company Profile

Kopin Corporation NASDAQ: KOPN is a technology company specializing in the development and manufacture of high-resolution microdisplays and optical components for wearable electronics. Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, Kopin designs both liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) microdisplays, as well as complete display engines and optical modules tailored for use in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), industrial, medical, and defense applications.

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