Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) Shares Up 6% After Analyst Upgrade

Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) rose 6% during trading on Tuesday after Guggenheim upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $83.57 and last traded at $85.8710. Approximately 217,721 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 675,823 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.03.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MRCY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Mercury Systems from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Mercury Systems from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Zacks Research cut shares of Mercury Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Mercury Systems to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William Ballhaus sold 111,076 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.12, for a total value of $9,676,941.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 342,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,833,024.32. The trade was a 24.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Farnsworth sold 8,155 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.31, for a total transaction of $818,028.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 124,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,496,519.49. The trade was a 6.14% decrease in their position. 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 three months, insiders sold 450,186 shares of company stock valued at $41,770,650. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Mercury Systems in the second quarter worth about $87,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Mercury Systems by 250.8% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 463 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Mercury Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $265,000. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 11,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 5,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $376,000. Institutional investors own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

Mercury Systems Trading Up 0.3%

The stock has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a PE ratio of -174.50 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.83.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 18th. The technology company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $289.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $266.09 million. Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 3.02% and a positive return on equity of 1.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.91 EPS for the current year.

Mercury Systems Company Profile

Mercury Systems, Inc is a technology company that develops and manufactures secure, high-performance computing and sensor-processing solutions for the aerospace and defense industries. Its products are designed for use in mission-critical applications where ruggedness, rapid data processing, cybersecurity and long operational life are essential.

The company’s offerings include embedded computing systems, digital signal processing technologies, radio-frequency and microwave components, avionics systems, sensor-processing solutions, electronic warfare technology and secure communications products.