Scott Keeney Sells 100,000 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.01, for a total transaction of $4,101,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,960,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,380,994.34. This trade represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Up 2.7%

NASDAQ:LASR opened at $40.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of -161.48 and a beta of 2.30. nLight has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $86.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of nLight by 1,599.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in nLight during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in nLight by 7,871.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LASR. Wall Street Zen cut nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

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.