Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Trading Down 1.8% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Lumentum shares fell 1.8% after insider selling, with the stock trading lower during Friday’s session and volume below its average.
• Director Ian Small sold 4,954 shares, while CFO Wajid Ali and SVP Jae Kim also sold shares under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, largely tied to tax withholding on equity awards.
• Despite the pullback, analysts remain generally constructive: Lumentum has a Moderate Buy consensus and a price target of about $1,012, supported by strong AI-related demand and recent earnings growth.

Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) fell 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $934.85 and last traded at $946.90. 3,051,597 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 5,993,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $964.50.

Specifically, Director Ian Small sold 4,954 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $868.07, for a total transaction of $4,300,418.78. Following the sale, the director owned 21,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,236,414.56. This trade represents a 19.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Wajid Ali sold 2,487 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $953.95, for a total value of $2,372,473.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 60,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,144,206.45. This represents a 3.92% 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. In other news, SVP Jae Kim sold 1,422 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $953.95, for a total transaction of $1,356,516.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 32,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,844,065.35. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LITE. TD Cowen raised their price target on Lumentum from $875.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $1,014.00 price objective on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Lumentum from $800.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $1,200.00 price objective on shares of Lumentum in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Lumentum in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,012.43.

Lumentum News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Lumentum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Articles argue that Nvidia’s results reinforce the scarcity and importance of AI networking hardware, which could support continued demand for Lumentum’s optical components. Lumentum: Market Is Missing What Nvidia's Q1 Just Confirmed
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage says Lumentum’s AI connectivity portfolio is expanding and hyperscaler demand is driving record revenues and rapid growth in optical connectivity shipments. Lumentum's AI Connectivity Portfolio Expands: Is Growth Durable?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary describe Lumentum’s earnings as confirming an “AI scarcity advantage,” suggesting the company may be well positioned to benefit from tight supply and strong demand. Lumentum's Earnings Confirm AI Scarcity Advantage
• Positive Sentiment: Lumentum’s addition to the Nasdaq-100 is increasing visibility and could bring more institutional and ETF-related demand for the shares. Does Lumentum (LITE) Joining the Nasdaq-100 Recast Its AI Infrastructure Investment Narrative?
• Neutral Sentiment: REX Shares launched a 2x leveraged ETF tied to Lumentum, which may boost trading interest but does not change the company’s fundamentals. REX Shares Launches T-REX 2X ASTS (ASUP) & 2X LITE (LITU) ETFs
• Neutral Sentiment: Several insider sale filings were reported, but the trades were relatively small and do not appear to be a major driver of the stock move. Yuen Wupen Sells 3,210 Shares of Lumentum NASDAQ: LITE Stock

Lumentum Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $73.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 175.35 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $831.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $557.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $808.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.21 million. Lumentum had a return on equity of 24.81% and a net margin of 17.61%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 90.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Lumentum has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.850-3.050 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 6.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Lumentum by 7,168.8% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 362,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $58,958,000 after purchasing an additional 357,367 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,755,000. Headwater Capital Co Ltd acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $20,339,000. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,239,000. Finally, Maxi Investments CY Ltd acquired a new stake in Lumentum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company's stock.

About Lumentum

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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