Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH)

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTH) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 19,909 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 372% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,216 call options.

LightPath Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LPTH opened at $11.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $673.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.44 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.97 and a quick ratio of 3.42. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.17. LightPath Technologies has a 12 month low of $1.61 and a 12 month high of $15.24.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Run Strategic Opportunit North sold 770,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.72, for a total transaction of $9,028,162.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,728,968 shares in the company, valued at $31,983,504.96. This represents a 22.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,478,762 shares of company stock valued at $29,982,515 over the last quarter. Insiders own 24.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LightPath Technologies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of LightPath Technologies by 92.1% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 60,612 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 29,054 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in LightPath Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $79,000. Marathon Capital Management acquired a new stake in LightPath Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Mink Brook Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in LightPath Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $246,000. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC purchased a new position in LightPath Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on LPTH. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of LightPath Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of LightPath Technologies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LightPath Technologies in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of LightPath Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of LightPath Technologies from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.10.

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.