nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias Sells 1,487 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,487 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $111,762.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 101,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,647,079.04. This trade represents a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total transaction of $110,833.30.
• On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total transaction of $116,471.36.
• On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $201,308.04.

nLight Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of LASR stock opened at $69.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $12.45 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.29.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. nLight’s revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LASR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 155.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in nLight in the third quarter valued at $41,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.