Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Mercury Systems hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $128.45 on Tuesday, reflecting strong recent momentum in the stock.
• The company’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $0.27 versus a $0.06 estimate and revenue of $235.76 million, up 11.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but slightly positive overall, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $91.00 average price target, even as some firms maintained sell or hold ratings.

Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $128.45 and last traded at $123.07, with a volume of 426445 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $126.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MRCY. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Mercury Systems from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Mercury Systems from $102.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mercury Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mercury Systems has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $103.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.90. The company has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -512.79 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 3.19.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.21. Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 1.46% and a positive return on equity of 2.22%. The company had revenue of $235.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Mercury Systems

In related news, Director Howard L. Lance sold 9,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.76, for a total value of $922,780.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David E. Farnsworth sold 3,625 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 157,701 shares in the company, valued at $13,384,083.87. The trade was a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 21,875 shares of company stock worth $2,040,874 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Mercury Systems

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury Systems during the 1st quarter valued at $755,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 51.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 855,441 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,861,000 after purchasing an additional 290,989 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 13.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 159,617 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,878,000 after purchasing an additional 18,916 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 161.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 50,769 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,188,000 after buying an additional 31,337 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 30.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 124,973 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,731,000 after purchasing an additional 29,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.99% of the company's stock.

Mercury Systems Company Profile

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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