Van ECK Associates Corp Has $64.72 Million Stock Holdings in nLight $LASR

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) by 11.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 929,609 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,716 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in nLight were worth $64,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in nLight by 1,599.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in shares of nLight during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at $102,434,628.32. This represents a 7.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $73,310.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 97,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,613,461.79. The trade was a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 397,087 shares of company stock valued at $19,090,182. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

nLight Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of LASR stock opened at $42.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -171.76 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a 1 year low of $27.22 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.87.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The firm’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LASR has been the subject of several research reports. 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

nLight 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.