nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells $396,849.57 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 9,753 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.69, for a total transaction of $396,849.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,175,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,512,387.34. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of LASR stock opened at $39.29 on Friday. nLight has a twelve month low of $27.22 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -157.16 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of nLight by 7,636.1% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,744,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207,248 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,315,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,374,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in nLight by 377.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after purchasing an additional 835,720 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LASR shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.94.

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.