AMH Equity Ltd Buys New Stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)

AMH Equity Ltd bought a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 119,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $932,000. nLight accounts for about 1.4% of AMH Equity Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. AMH Equity Ltd owned 0.24% of nLight at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Senvest Management LLC boosted its position in nLight by 114.1% in the fourth quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,481,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after buying an additional 1,322,637 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in nLight by 140.4% in the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,207,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,383,000 after buying an additional 705,215 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its position in nLight by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 2,652,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,821,000 after buying an additional 314,375 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,259,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,976,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of nLight from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (up from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $17.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 10,062 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.62, for a total transaction of $177,292.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 166,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,931,298.44. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 33,682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.53, for a total transaction of $657,809.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,206,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,563,726.20. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,915 shares of company stock valued at $3,445,301 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

nLight Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $19.96 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.99. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $6.20 and a fifty-two week high of $20.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $986.80 million, a P/E ratio of -17.66 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 5.81 and a quick ratio of 4.63.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.13. The company had revenue of $51.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.77 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 26.80% and a negative return on equity of 22.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.17) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

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.