Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) Trading Up 8.2% – Time to Buy?

Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) shares were up 8.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $96.91 and last traded at $96.3330. Approximately 75,864 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 679,407 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MRCY. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $102.00 price objective on Mercury Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Mercury Systems from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mercury Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.89.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.48, a P/E/G ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.75.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 3.23% and a positive return on equity of 1.28%. The company had revenue of $232.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. Mercury Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Mercury Systems Inc will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mercury Systems news, Director Jana Partners Management, Lp sold 400,000 shares of Mercury Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $32,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,566,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,900,675. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stuart Kupinsky sold 2,287 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $191,101.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 68,010 shares in the company, valued at $5,682,915.60. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 407,701 shares of company stock worth $33,069,685. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercury Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRCY. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Mercury Systems by 161.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,527,443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,224,000 after purchasing an additional 943,736 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Mercury Systems by 321.7% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 992,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,462,000 after purchasing an additional 757,216 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,532,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,640,000 after buying an additional 751,813 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Mercury Systems by 287.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 693,867 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $56,328,000 after buying an additional 514,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Mercury Systems by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,423,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $249,957,000 after acquiring an additional 368,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

About Mercury Systems

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.