nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) Given Speculative Buy Rating at Benchmark

nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR)‘s stock had its “speculative buy” rating restated by research analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $17.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 53.15% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on nLIGHT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd.

nLIGHT Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.10. The company had a trading volume of 287,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 193,840. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.50. The company has a market capitalization of $527.92 million, a PE ratio of -10.88 and a beta of 2.39. nLIGHT has a one year low of $8.13 and a one year high of $15.00.

nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.01. nLIGHT had a negative return on equity of 17.86% and a negative net margin of 23.81%. The company had revenue of $44.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.35 million. Analysts forecast that nLIGHT will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other nLIGHT news, Director Geoffrey Moore sold 38,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $509,779.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 71,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $935,384.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other nLIGHT news, Director Geoffrey Moore sold 38,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $509,779.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 71,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $935,384.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.29, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 191,578 shares in the company, valued at $2,546,071.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLIGHT

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of nLIGHT by 19.2% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 93,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 14,983 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its position in shares of nLIGHT by 18.1% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,020,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,087,000 after acquiring an additional 309,634 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of nLIGHT by 5.9% during the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 89,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 4,973 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of nLIGHT by 16.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keeley Teton Advisors LLC grew its stake in nLIGHT by 17.2% during the first quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 77,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 11,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

About nLIGHT

nLIGHT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications.