Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR)

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 59,186 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 718% compared to the average daily volume of 7,234 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Luminar Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Luminar Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Luminar Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Luminar Technologies by 1,077.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 8,666 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in Luminar Technologies by 1,194.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 9,114 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Luminar Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at about $90,000. 30.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Luminar Technologies Trading Down 4.3%

Shares of LAZR opened at $3.13 on Friday. Luminar Technologies has a twelve month low of $3.05 and a twelve month high of $32.70. The company has a market cap of $146.73 million, a P/E ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 2.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.44.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.50) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.75) by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $18.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Luminar Technologies will post -14.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LAZR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Luminar Technologies from $3.50 to $2.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.86.

Luminar Technologies Company Profile

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.