Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells $8,024,262.50 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.15, for a total transaction of $8,024,262.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $96,469,471.85. The trade was a 7.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $44.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -179.96 and a beta of 2.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.02. nLight has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The business’s revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LASR shares. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.94.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in nLight by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 443 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. 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.