LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) Trading Up 10.6% – Time to Buy?

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH)’s share price was up 10.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $17.42 and last traded at $17.28. Approximately 1,809,939 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 3,103,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LPTH shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of LightPath Technologies from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of LightPath Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of LightPath Technologies from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.13.

LightPath Technologies Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.86, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.14 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.33.

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.02). The company had revenue of $19.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.04 million. LightPath Technologies had a negative return on equity of 15.55% and a negative net margin of 37.38%. As a group, analysts forecast that LightPath Technologies, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at LightPath Technologies

In other news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 165,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.16, for a total value of $2,006,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,990,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,359,761.92. This trade represents a 5.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 715,858 shares of company stock valued at $8,745,283. 24.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in LightPath Technologies by 707.2% in the 1st 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. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,000. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $82,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in LightPath Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $88,000. 56.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.