nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 45,191 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 45,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $3,200,426.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,422,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,544,028.28. This represents a 1.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of LASR stock traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.49. The stock had a trading volume of 997,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,100. nLight has a 12-month low of $12.45 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The company has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.29.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in nLight in the fourth quarter worth $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in nLight by 377.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after buying an additional 835,720 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in nLight in the third quarter worth $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in nLight by 18.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,130,000 after buying an additional 747,958 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in nLight by 537.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,711,000 after buying an additional 532,470 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LASR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.81.

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.