LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) Trading Up 10.6% – Time to Buy?

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) shares traded up 10.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $17.42 and last traded at $17.28. 1,809,939 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 3,103,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright upped their target price on LightPath Technologies from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of LightPath Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of LightPath Technologies from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.13.

LightPath Technologies Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of -37.14 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.34 and its 200 day moving average is $11.33. The company has a current ratio of 3.86, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.02). The company had revenue of $19.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 million. LightPath Technologies had a negative net margin of 37.38% and a negative return on equity of 15.55%. As a group, research analysts predict that LightPath Technologies, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 165,000 shares of LightPath Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.16, for a total value of $2,006,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,990,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,359,761.92. The trade was a 5.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 715,858 shares of company stock valued at $8,745,283 over the last quarter. Insiders own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LightPath Technologies

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in shares of LightPath Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $82,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of LightPath Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $84,000. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $90,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in LightPath Technologies by 707.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 8,380 shares in the last quarter. 56.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc designs, manufactures and distributes precision optical components and assemblies for a variety of commercial, industrial, defense and scientific applications. The company’s portfolio includes molded glass aspheric lenses, precision glass optics, infrared lenses and assemblies, diamond-turned optics and molded polymer optics. These components are engineered to support imaging, illumination, laser delivery, detection and sensing systems across visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths.

Among its core offerings, LightPath develops infrared optical solutions using materials such as germanium, zinc selenide and chalcogenide glasses for thermal imaging, night-vision devices and spectroscopy.