Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) Short Interest Up 14.0% in October

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 110,860,000 shares, an increase of 14.0% from the September 30th total of 97,230,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 25,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Luminar Technologies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Luminar Technologies by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,705,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,627,000 after buying an additional 1,671,708 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Luminar Technologies by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 7,510 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Luminar Technologies by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 139,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 10,394 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Luminar Technologies by 0.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 14,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Luminar Technologies in the first quarter worth $314,000. 30.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Luminar Technologies Stock Performance

LAZR stock opened at $0.86 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $0.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.28. Luminar Technologies has a 52-week low of $0.73 and a 52-week high of $3.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $424.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.67 and a beta of 1.60.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $16.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.37) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Luminar Technologies will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Luminar Technologies from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $2.00 price target on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $1.00 price objective on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Luminar Technologies from $1.50 to $1.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.74.

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.