nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 19,096 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 19,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total value of $1,122,844.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,210,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,949,705.20. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded down $1.87 on Thursday, hitting $64.62. 100,186 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,561,608. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.17 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a 52 week low of $6.20 and a 52 week high of $69.52.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The business had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.30) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LASR. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on nLight in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, nLight presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of nLight by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC boosted its holdings in nLight by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,473,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares during the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of nLight by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,684,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of nLight by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,485,000 after buying an additional 341,948 shares during the period. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. lifted its holdings in nLight by 1.9% in the second quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,344,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,468,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

nLight Company Profile

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. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications.