Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR)

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 59,186 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 718% compared to the typical volume of 7,234 call options.

Institutional Trading of Luminar Technologies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LAZR. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Luminar Technologies in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in Luminar Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Luminar Technologies by 1,077.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,470 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 8,666 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Luminar Technologies by 1,194.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,877 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 9,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Luminar Technologies in the first quarter worth approximately $90,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LAZR. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Luminar Technologies from $3.50 to $2.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Luminar Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Luminar Technologies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.86.

Luminar Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ LAZR traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $2.96. The stock had a trading volume of 2,463,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,454. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.40. Luminar Technologies has a one year low of $2.95 and a one year high of $32.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.22 and a beta of 2.01.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.75) by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $18.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.27 million. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Luminar Technologies will post -14.2 EPS for the current year.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies, Inc, an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries.