Insider Selling: Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) EVP Sells 3,625 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• EVP David Farnsworth sold 3,625 shares on April 16 at an average price of $84.87 for about $307,653, a sale disclosed in an SEC filing and made to cover tax withholding from vested equity; his stake fell 2.25% to 157,701 shares (≈$13.38M).
• Recent results and stock action: Mercury beat the quarter with $0.16 EPS (vs. $0.07 est.) and $232.9M revenue (vs. $210M est.) but still has a negative net margin, while the stock traded down ~1% to $84.05 and carries a market cap of roughly $5.04B.
• Analyst and ownership backdrop: the consensus rating is "Hold" with an average target of $86.33, and institutional investors own about 95.99% of the company.

Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) EVP David Farnsworth sold 3,625 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total transaction of $307,653.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 157,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,384,083.87. This trade represents a 2.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Mercury Systems Stock Down 1.0%

MRCY traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $84.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 917,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 652,190. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -158.58, a PEG ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Mercury Systems Inc has a 1 year low of $44.01 and a 1 year high of $103.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $82.02 and its 200-day moving average is $80.42.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $232.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mercury Systems Inc will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRCY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $102.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 804 shares of the technology company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 7,714 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 2.0% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,175 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 41.9% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 569 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 10.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,941 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.99% 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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