Scott Keeney Sells 181,750 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total value of $8,520,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. This trade represents a 7.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Price Performance

LASR stock opened at $43.70 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.06. nLight has a one year low of $27.22 and a one year high of $86.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.80 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on LASR shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on nLight in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, nLight has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight during the second quarter worth about $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in nLight by 7,636.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,744,000 after buying an additional 4,207,248 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in nLight by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,684,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in nLight by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,485,000 after buying an additional 341,948 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

nLight Company Profile

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.