AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest in AEye rose 46.4% to 2.76 million shares as of September 15, representing approximately 6.7% of shares outstanding.
• Institutional ownership stands at 21.58%, with Renaissance Technologies increasing its holdings by more than 1,800% and other firms establishing new positions.
• AEye shares fell 2.5% to $1.17, while analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating and a $3.50 price target; the company continues to report substantial losses and negative profitability metrics.

AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,761,764 shares, a growth of 46.4% from the August 31st total of 1,886,991 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,596,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days. Approximately 6.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of AEye by 1,836.8% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,394,472 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,472 shares during the last quarter. Littlejohn & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in AEye in the 2nd quarter worth about $258,000. Finally, Connective Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AEye in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Institutional investors own 21.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of AEye in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded AEye from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AEye presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $3.50.

AEye Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ:LIDR traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $1.17. 575,759 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,879,730. The company's 50 day moving average is $1.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.56. AEye has a twelve month low of $1.01 and a twelve month high of $4.00. The company has a market capitalization of $54.60 million, a P/E ratio of -1.34 and a beta of 2.83.

AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17). The company had revenue of $0.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.18 million. AEye had a negative return on equity of 42.98% and a negative net margin of 7,786.44%.

About AEye

AEye, Inc develops high-performance, software-defined lidar systems for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles and industrial applications. Its technology is designed to help vehicles and machines detect, classify and track objects, supporting perception and decision-making in complex environments.

The company's product portfolio has included adaptive lidar sensors and related perception software, with systems intended for applications such as highway driving, automated trucking, smart infrastructure and other industrial uses.

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