Morgan Stanley Raises Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Price Target to $100.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its target price for Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) from $92.00 to $100.00, but this indicates a potential downside of 17.14% from the current price.
• Recent upgrades from other firms reflect a positive outlook, with Bank of America and Needham & Company increasing their price objectives significantly, with the highest target now at $145.00.
• Lumentum reported earnings of $0.88 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and marking a year-over-year revenue increase of 55.9%.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $92.00 to $100.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the technology company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target points to a potential downside of 13.69% from the stock's previous close.

LITE has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lumentum from $100.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Lumentum from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Lumentum from $96.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Lumentum in a report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Barclays set a $135.00 price objective on Lumentum and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four investment 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $124.00.

Lumentum Price Performance

NASDAQ LITE traded up $1.24 on Wednesday, hitting $115.86. 3,164,639 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,892,331. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $98.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.85. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 503.74 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 4.37, a quick ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Lumentum has a 1-year low of $45.65 and a 1-year high of $129.98.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The technology company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $480.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $465.27 million. Lumentum had a negative return on equity of 3.02% and a net margin of 1.57%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 55.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Lumentum will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lumentum news, insider Yuen Wupen sold 241 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.34, for a total transaction of $26,109.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 78,597 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,515,198.98. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan S. Lowe sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.47, for a total value of $1,869,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 230,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,542,124.37. This trade represents a 7.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,000 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,909 in the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lumentum

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MAI Capital Management boosted its position in Lumentum by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 452 shares of the technology company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Lumentum by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,500 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,473 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 8,396 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Lumentum by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 14,130 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company's stock.

Lumentum Company Profile

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.