Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Mercury Systems Inc $MRCY

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Mercury Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MRCY) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,194 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Mercury Systems worth $18,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MRCY. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in Mercury Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $4,954,000. One Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mercury Systems by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 29,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 8,893 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mercury Systems by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 399,496 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,168,000 after purchasing an additional 125,194 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Mercury Systems in the 1st quarter worth about $1,706,000. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Mercury Systems by 6,562.5% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 142,178 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,380,000 after buying an additional 140,044 shares during the period. 95.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercury Systems

In other Mercury Systems news, EVP Steven Ratner sold 2,000 shares of Mercury Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.46, for a total value of $184,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,238 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,725.48. The trade was a 5.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Howard L. Lance sold 9,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.76, for a total transaction of $922,780.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 18,250 shares of company stock worth $1,733,220 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Mercury Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRCY opened at $98.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -412.17 and a beta of 0.93. Mercury Systems Inc has a 52 week low of $50.13 and a 52 week high of $128.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $107.80 and a 200 day moving average of $93.44.

Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $235.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.56 million. Mercury Systems had a positive return on equity of 2.22% and a negative net margin of 1.46%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mercury Systems Inc will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Mercury Systems from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Mercury Systems in a report on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Mercury Systems in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research raised Mercury Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Mercury Systems from $102.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mercury Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.78.

Mercury Systems Profile

Mercury Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: MRCY) is a technology company that designs, manufactures and markets secure processing subsystems for aerospace and defense applications. The company’s products are built to address the stringent security, safety and reliability requirements of mission-critical programs, with a focus on radar, electronic warfare, intelligence and other sensor and processing functions. Mercury’s offerings encompass rugged embedded computing modules, high-performance radio frequency (RF) and microwave components, digital signal processing subsystems and secure networking solutions.

Since its origins in advanced signal processing, Mercury Systems has expanded its capabilities through a combination of internal development and targeted acquisitions.