Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) Shares Up 5.4% – Time to Buy?

Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY)’s share price shot up 5.4% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $86.00 and last traded at $83.8940. Approximately 209,037 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 671,745 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on MRCY shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Mercury Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Zacks Research cut shares of Mercury Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Mercury Systems to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Mercury Systems from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Mercury Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.90.

Mercury Systems Stock Up 6.3%

The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -169.67 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.09 million. Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 3.02% and a positive return on equity of 1.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William L. Ballhaus sold 111,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $29,833,024.32. This represents a 24.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David E. Farnsworth sold 8,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.31, for a total value of $818,028.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 124,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,496,519.49. This trade represents a 6.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 452,186 shares of company stock worth $41,933,170 over the last ninety days. 0.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mercury Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Mercury Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,146,342,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Mercury Systems by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 775,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,867,000 after purchasing an additional 19,977 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in Mercury Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,244,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury Systems by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 934,824 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,158,000 after buying an additional 298,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Mercury Systems during the second quarter worth about $59,460,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

Mercury Systems Company Profile

Mercury Systems, Inc. develops and supplies secure processing systems and subsystems for the aerospace and defense industries. Its products include embedded computing, signal processing, radio-frequency and microwave components, and other technologies used to process and manage critical data. The company’s technologies support applications such as radar, electronic warfare, communications, avionics, and command-and-control systems. Mercury works with defense contractors and government customers, providing components and systems designed for use in demanding environments.