Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $42.10, but opened at $43.72. Mercury Systems shares last traded at $43.27, with a volume of 51,297 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRCY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Mercury Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Baird R W upgraded Mercury Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird raised Mercury Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $37.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Mercury Systems from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Mercury Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mercury Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.86.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.92. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.82 and a beta of 0.80.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.04). Mercury Systems had a negative net margin of 10.23% and a negative return on equity of 2.03%. As a group, analysts predict that Mercury Systems, Inc. will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Mercury Systems news, COO Charles Roger Iv Wells sold 2,342 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $103,329.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 95,928 shares in the company, valued at $4,232,343.36. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Douglas Munro sold 595 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.12, for a total transaction of $26,251.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,916.64. The trade was a 3.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,314 shares of company stock worth $234,454. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRCY. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $289,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 6.8% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 39,528 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in shares of Mercury Systems by 17.1% during the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 43,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 6,403 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Mercury Systems by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 221,279 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Mercury Systems by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 14,686 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.99% of the company’s stock.

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.