nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

LASR has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.50.

nLight Trading Down 9.6%

Shares of LASR stock opened at $59.01 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of -196.69 and a beta of 2.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.07. nLight has a 52 week low of $17.84 and a 52 week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the firm’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 $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,375,519 shares in the company, valued at $162,675,541.12. This trade represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 177,572 shares in the company, valued at $12,501,068.80. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after acquiring an additional 125,446 shares during the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of nLight by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,684,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 341,948 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of nLight by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,320,000 after purchasing an additional 20,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $41,315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.