Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Sells $1,386,240.64 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Joseph John Corso sold 20,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $1,386,240.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 213,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,589,527.04. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Joseph John Corso also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 20th, Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total transaction of $2,497,510.40.
• On Monday, May 18th, Joseph John Corso sold 19,575 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total transaction of $1,386,301.50.
• On Friday, May 15th, Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $1,386,326.20.
• On Friday, March 6th, Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total transaction of $742,193.10.
• On Thursday, March 5th, Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $807,834.48.

nLight Stock Up 2.8%

nLight stock opened at $78.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of -261.79 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a 52-week low of $13.45 and a 52-week high of $86.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.06.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 161,736.7% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 79,251 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,626,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 6,151.0% in the 3rd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 41,150 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.6% in the 4th 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. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 4th quarter valued at $788,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

Trending Headlines about nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight’s recent quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million versus $72.14 million expected. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the view that business momentum remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Research coverage has stayed constructive, including reports highlighting nLight as a strong momentum stock and multiple bullish analyst ratings, which can help support investor confidence in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several executives, including CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias, sold shares recently. The filings say the trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Even though the insider sales appear routine, the volume of selling from top executives may still weigh on sentiment in the short term as some investors interpret it as profit-taking after a sharp run-up in the share price.

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.