Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR)

Key Points

• Traders purchased a significant increase in put options for Luminar Technologies, with a 103% rise to 31,129 options, indicating a bearish outlook.
• Weiss Ratings recently reissued a sell rating for Luminar, with analysts giving it an average rating of "Reduce" and a target price of $8.50.
• Luminar's stock price fell by 9.0%, closing at $1.82, significantly below its 1-year high of $18.60, amidst disappointing earnings performance.

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 31,129 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 103% compared to the typical daily volume of 15,341 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Luminar Technologies in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $8.50.

Luminar Technologies Stock Down 9.0%

LAZR traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $1.82. The stock had a trading volume of 10,280,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,447,525. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.65 and a beta of 2.05. Luminar Technologies has a 1-year low of $1.58 and a 1-year high of $18.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.97.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($1.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.19) by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $15.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 million. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.18) earnings per share. Luminar Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Luminar Technologies will post -14.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Luminar Technologies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZR. Mudrick Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Luminar Technologies in the second quarter worth $10,726,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Luminar Technologies in the second quarter worth $1,424,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Luminar Technologies by 49.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 968,026 shares of the company's stock worth $2,779,000 after acquiring an additional 320,874 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Luminar Technologies by 20,160.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 231,572 shares of the company's stock worth $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 230,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Luminar Technologies in the first quarter worth $881,000. 30.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Luminar Technologies Company Profile

Luminar Technologies, Inc, an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries.

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