nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 16,089 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 16,089 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR opened at $65.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.22 and a 200-day moving average of $55.10. nLight has a one year low of $16.87 and a one year high of $86.95. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of -219.49 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LASR. William Blair began coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.06.

More nLight News

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view nLight favorably, with the stock carrying an average rating of “Moderate Buy”, which may help support longer-term confidence in the company. nLight Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares on June 4 and 3,840 shares on June 3 under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting, which suggests routine selling rather than a change in outlook. SEC filing for CFO Joseph John Corso sale
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 8,901 shares on June 3 and 16,089 shares on June 4, also through a 10b5-1 plan for tax withholding on vested awards; the company says the trades were planned and do not necessarily signal fundamental weakness. SEC filing for CEO Scott H. Keeney sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer James Nias also sold 940 shares on June 3 under the same type of pre-arranged plan, adding to the near-term insider selling activity. SEC filing for CAO James Nias sale

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in nLight by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in nLight by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in nLight by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in nLight by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in nLight by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.