nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Upgraded at Zacks Research

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Northcoast Research raised nLight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen cut nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.06.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. nLight has a 1 year low of $28.05 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -193.39 and a beta of 2.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.18.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $73.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.16 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that nLight will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In related news, Director William Gossman sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.36, for a total value of $665,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 100,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,447,134.36. This represents a 13.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Geoffrey Moore sold 4,452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.57, for a total transaction of $153,905.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $2,809,331.05. The trade was a 5.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 621,149 shares of company stock worth $27,153,700 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the second quarter worth about $339,687,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,374,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 125.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,026,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,991,000 after acquiring an additional 570,728 shares during the last quarter. Tema ETFs LLC increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 84,128.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 394,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,444,000 after acquiring an additional 393,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in nLight by 2,995.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 406,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,309,000 after purchasing an additional 393,488 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

nLight Company Profile

nLIGHT, Inc. develops and manufactures lasers and related photonics products for industrial, aerospace and defense applications. Its offerings include high-power semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers and ultrafast lasers, along with components and systems used to deliver and control laser energy. The company’s products support applications such as materials processing and other industrial tasks, as well as defense technologies including directed-energy systems. nLIGHT serves customers in the United States and international markets.