Why lumen stock rose today

Lumen (LIGHT 10.11%) shares posted explosive gains in Thursday trading. The telecom company’s share price ended the daily session up 10.1%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Lumen rose today following a new disclosure filing that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The filing revealed that an investor named Daniel Hagan now owns a large position in the company. Hagan isn’t a very well-known public figure or a household name in the investment world, so why did the recent filing trigger such a big spike in the stock’s value?

A little-known investor is making a huge bet on Lumen

In yesterday’s SEC filing, it was disclosed that Hagan owned 55 million shares of Lumen, representing 5.4% of the company’s common stock. When investors or institutions come to own 5% of a company’s stock, they must file a disclosure of their position. This suggests that Hagan has purchased a large amount of Lumen stock lately.

News that big investors are buying the stock may help fuel additional bullish momentum, and there may be another reason why investors seem so excited about Hagan’s involvement. The investor previously held sufficiently large positions in AMC networks, Jackson Financialand Lincoln National to trigger disclosure requirements, and subsequent disclosures about the divestiture suggest it had a high success rate with previous bets.

What’s Next for Lumen Stock?

Lumen stock posted massive gains in 2024 trading due to recent contract wins to provide high-speed fiber network solutions and support services for Microsoft and other players in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. Verizon’s recent announcement that it will buy Frontier Communications also provided a recent boost and a new level of support for the company’s valuation.

On the other hand, Lumen still has a big debt problem and is going through a complicated restructuring and turnaround process. While the stock could continue to rise if the business continues to land AI-related deals or attract significant acquisition interest, it’s riskier than it looks, despite the company continuing to trade at less than half of expected sales for this year.