Luminar Technologies Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:LAZR)

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 15,443 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the typical volume of 9,441 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Luminar Technologies from $3.00 to $2.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $1.00 target price on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Luminar Technologies from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Luminar Technologies from $9.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Luminar Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.74.

Luminar Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ LAZR opened at $0.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $453.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.67 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.44. Luminar Technologies has a 52-week low of $0.73 and a 52-week high of $4.62.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $16.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.36 million. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.37) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Luminar Technologies will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Luminar Technologies by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 7,564 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Luminar Technologies by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,705,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671,708 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Luminar Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $214,000. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Luminar Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Luminar Technologies by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,865,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,675,000 after buying an additional 14,604 shares in the last quarter. 30.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies, Inc, an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries.