LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $18.26 and last traded at $17.61, with a volume of 4383735 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $16.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

LightPath Technologies Trading Up 8.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.22 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 3.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.01.

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.02). The company had revenue of $19.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that LightPath Technologies, Inc. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at LightPath Technologies

In other news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 165,000 shares of LightPath Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.16, for a total transaction of $2,006,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,990,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,359,761.92. The trade was a 5.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,390,853 shares of company stock worth $16,925,923 in the last three months. Insiders own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LightPath Technologies

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

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.