Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,520,000 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the November 30th total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 360,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.0 days.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MRCY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Mercury Systems from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Mercury Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.63.
Insider Buying and Selling at Mercury Systems
In other Mercury Systems news, EVP James Mitch Stevison sold 1,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total value of $72,526.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,551,997.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Starboard Value LP lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 10.0% in the second quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 3,943,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,657,000 after buying an additional 359,311 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 16.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,765,679 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $112,287,000 after buying an additional 382,507 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 7.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,188,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $141,020,000 after buying an additional 159,068 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 46.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,546,515 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,789,000 after buying an additional 487,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mercury Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,337,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,296,000 after buying an additional 21,941 shares in the last quarter. 98.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Mercury Systems Stock Up 2.9 %
NASDAQ MRCY traded up $1.27 on Friday, hitting $44.74. 211,990 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 430,431. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 745.67, a PEG ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 0.95. Mercury Systems has a 12 month low of $40.48 and a 12 month high of $72.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.14 and a 200-day moving average of $50.71. The company has a current ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.
Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The technology company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $227.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.40 million. Mercury Systems had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 5.51%. As a group, analysts forecast that Mercury Systems will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Mercury Systems Company Profile
Mercury Systems, Inc, a technology company, manufactures and sells components, products, modules, and subsystems for aerospace and defense industries in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Its products and solutions are deployed in approximately 300 programs with 25 defense contractors and commercial aviation customers.