Brokerages Set LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) Price Target at $14.13

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.1250.

A number of research firms recently commented on LPTH. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on LightPath Technologies from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut LightPath Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on LightPath Technologies from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th.

LightPath Technologies Trading Up 18.7%

Shares of LightPath Technologies stock opened at $16.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.90 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.80. LightPath Technologies has a 1-year low of $2.28 and a 1-year high of $17.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.86 and a quick ratio of 3.24.

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02). LightPath Technologies had a negative return on equity of 15.55% and a negative net margin of 37.38%.The firm had revenue of $19.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.04 million. Analysts predict that LightPath Technologies will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 381,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.18, for a total value of $4,640,628.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,075,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,459,918.86. This represents a 11.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 1,828,726 shares of company stock valued at $22,237,106 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LightPath Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AWM Investment Company Inc. raised its position in LightPath Technologies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 2,040,110 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,033,000 after purchasing an additional 592,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in LightPath Technologies by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,967,566 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 72,208 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in LightPath Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,939,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in LightPath Technologies by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,449,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,656,000 after purchasing an additional 181,538 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in LightPath Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,445,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.29% of the company’s stock.

LightPath Technologies Company Profile

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.