Truist Financial Upgrades Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Truist upgraded Mercury Systems to a "Strong-Buy" on Friday, while analyst coverage remains mixed overall with a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.33.
• Mercury beat last quarter's expectations—reporting $0.16 EPS vs. $0.07 expected and $232.87M revenue vs. $209.96M expected—but still shows a negative net margin and a very high trailing PE (negative).
• Insiders have sold heavily recently (863,383 shares worth about $74.8M in the past 90 days), even as institutional ownership is very high at about 95.99%.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Truist Financial to a "strong-buy" rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MRCY. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mercury Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Mercury Systems Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ MRCY opened at $78.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.96 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of -148.21, a PEG ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.84. Mercury Systems has a 1 year low of $44.01 and a 1 year high of $103.84. The business's 50-day moving average is $81.25 and its 200 day moving average is $80.37.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. Mercury Systems had a positive return on equity of 1.28% and a negative net margin of 3.23%.The company had revenue of $232.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $209.96 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. Mercury Systems's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mercury Systems will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Mercury Systems news, EVP Stuart Kupinsky sold 2,287 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $191,101.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 68,010 shares in the company, valued at $5,682,915.60. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP David E. Farnsworth sold 3,625 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were 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. This represents a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 863,383 shares of company stock worth $74,789,584. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mercury Systems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 533,092 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,261,000 after acquiring an additional 76,379 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 225,374 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,444,000 after acquiring an additional 67,518 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in Mercury Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $4,954,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mercury Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,862,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Mercury Systems by 18.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 205,644 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,917,000 after acquiring an additional 32,443 shares during the last quarter. 95.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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