Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Lumentum Holdings Inc. shares reached a new 52-week high after UBS Group raised its price target from $78.00 to $130.00, with the current trading price at $120.23.
• Analysts have generally given Lumentum a positive outlook, with eleven analysts
• Insider activity showed significant transactions, with CFO Wajid Ali selling 2,222 shares at an average price of $83.58, while insiders sold a total of 80,867 shares valued at over $7.6 million last quarter.

Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $78.00 to $130.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lumentum traded as high as $129.98 and last traded at $120.23, with a volume of 9246332 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $119.66.

LITE has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lumentum from $100.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Lumentum from $100.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Lumentum from $75.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Lumentum to $140.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lumentum news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 2,222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.58, for a total value of $185,714.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 47,460 shares in the company, valued at $3,966,706.80. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jae Kim sold 4,577 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.98, for a total transaction of $356,914.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,534 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,459,021.32. This trade represents a 12.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 80,867 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,438 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LITE. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 16,912.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 50,017 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,199,000 after buying an additional 49,723 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,004 shares of the technology company's stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 29,872 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,508,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,304 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,785 shares of the technology company's stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.05% of the company's stock.

Lumentum Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 522.74 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $97.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.30. The company has a quick ratio of 3.53, a current ratio of 4.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The technology company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $480.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.27 million. Lumentum had a net margin of 1.57% and a negative return on equity of 3.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 55.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.06 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Lumentum

Lumentum Holdings Inc manufactures and sells optical and photonic products in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through two segments: Optical Communications (OpComms) and Commercial Lasers (Lasers). The OpComms segment offers components, modules, and subsystems that enable the transmission and transport of video, audio, and data over high-capacity fiber optic cables.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.