Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $66.61, but opened at $70.51. Lumentum shares last traded at $71.69, with a volume of 208,528 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Lumentum in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Lumentum in a report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Lumentum from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James raised Lumentum from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $96.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised Lumentum from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.40.

Lumentum Stock Up 8.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 4.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.42 and a beta of 1.03.

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.41). Lumentum had a negative net margin of 36.98% and a negative return on equity of 7.25%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lumentum Holdings Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lumentum

In related news, CFO Wajid Ali sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.34, for a total transaction of $170,154.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,976 shares in the company, valued at $4,071,799.84. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lumentum

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LITE. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Lumentum by 108.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,600,132 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $302,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871,572 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lumentum in the fourth quarter worth $68,962,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Lumentum by 98.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,228,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $103,122,000 after purchasing an additional 610,938 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Lumentum by 419.1% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 444,147 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,286,000 after purchasing an additional 583,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in Lumentum in the fourth quarter worth $42,415,000. Institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

About Lumentum

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.