Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,740,000 shares, a growth of 15.7% from the November 15th total of 6,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 30.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on LAZR shares. Craig Hallum decreased their price target on Luminar Technologies from $22.50 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Luminar Technologies from $11.25 to $7.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Luminar Technologies from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Luminar Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Luminar Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Luminar Technologies by 17.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,774,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331,067 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Luminar Technologies by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,525,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,670,000 after buying an additional 225,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Luminar Technologies by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,991,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 425,335 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Luminar Technologies by 469.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 842,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 694,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of Luminar Technologies by 819.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 649,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 578,582 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.99% of the company’s stock.

Luminar Technologies Trading Down 7.4 %

Shares of LAZR opened at $6.42 on Friday. Luminar Technologies has a 1-year low of $6.34 and a 1-year high of $55.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.48 and a beta of 1.53.

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The company reported ($2.40) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($3.30) by $0.90. The company had revenue of $15.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($4.95) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Luminar Technologies will post -14.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.