William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 866,911 Shares of Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,432,601 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 866,911 shares during the period. Mercury Systems accounts for 0.7% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.11% of Mercury Systems worth $270,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,072,817 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $87,058,000 after buying an additional 743,552 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mercury Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $16,601,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,060,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,526,000 after buying an additional 294,747 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 471.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 175,562 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,496,000 after buying an additional 144,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Mercury Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $4,258,000. Institutional investors own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

Mercury Systems Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MRCY opened at $46.52 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.96. Mercury Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.48 and a fifty-two week high of $52.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.82 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.36.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.04). Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 10.23% and a negative return on equity of 2.03%. On average, analysts predict that Mercury Systems, Inc. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Douglas Munro sold 595 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $26,251.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $642,916.64. This represents a 3.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Charles Roger Iv Wells sold 2,342 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $103,329.04. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 95,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,232,343.36. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,314 shares of company stock worth $234,454. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MRCY. Truist Financial raised shares of Mercury Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Mercury Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Mercury Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mercury Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.86.

Mercury Systems Profile

Mercury Systems, Inc, a technology company, manufactures and sells components, products, modules, and subsystems for aerospace and defense industries in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Its products and solutions are deployed in approximately 300 programs with 25 defense contractors and commercial aviation customers.