Wasatch Advisors LP Invests $8.50 Million in LightPath Technologies, Inc. $LPTH

Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 519,608 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,496,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LPTH. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of LightPath Technologies by 92.1% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 29,054 shares during the period. Mink Brook Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of LightPath Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $246,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in LightPath Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $183,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in LightPath Technologies by 3.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in LightPath Technologies during the third quarter worth $90,000. Institutional investors own 56.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LPTH. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on LightPath Technologies in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.50 target price on shares of LightPath Technologies in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded LightPath Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.30.

LightPath Technologies Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPTH opened at $13.73 on Thursday. LightPath Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.36 and a 52-week high of $18.94. The company has a market capitalization of $862.11 million, a PE ratio of -27.46 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.05 and a 200-day moving average of $12.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 3,571,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total value of $49,999,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,934,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,087,592. This represents a 54.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 24.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.