nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) had its target price boosted by Needham & Company LLC from $48.00 to $70.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on nLight from $33.50 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen cut nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.07.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded down $6.76 on Friday, reaching $56.19. The company had a trading volume of 3,708,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,632,445. The business’s 50-day moving average is $46.35 and its 200 day moving average is $36.48. nLight has a one year low of $6.20 and a one year high of $62.98. The company has a quick ratio of 4.36, a current ratio of 5.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of -119.55 and a beta of 2.33.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $2,399,844.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,126,855.68. This trade represents a 25.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $1,190,867.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,285,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,711,100.20. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 127,502 shares of company stock valued at $4,622,166. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after buying an additional 125,446 shares during the period. Harvey Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of nLight by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,473,000 after acquiring an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,684,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in nLight by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,485,000 after acquiring an additional 341,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 1.9% during the second quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,344,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,468,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham raised its price target from $48 to $70 and assigned a “buy” rating, signaling confidence in continued revenue growth and implying ~24.6% upside from the current price. Needham Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $62.50 and moved to “overweight,” providing additional analyst support for the stock after the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results topped expectations: EPS $0.14 vs. $0.11 consensus and revenue $81.2M vs. $76.7M; revenue rose ~71% year‑over‑year. Management also set Q1 revenue guidance ($70–$76M) above consensus, which supports near‑term growth expectations. Q4 Earnings & Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional interest: Bleakley Financial reported a new stake in nLight, indicating some institutional accumulation. Bleakley Stake
• Positive Sentiment: Management scheduled investor events and conferences in early March, increasing chances for deeper analyst/investor engagement and potentially clearer forward commentary. Investor Events
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options volume was reported, suggesting heightened speculative or hedging activity that can amplify intraday moves but is not itself a directional signal. Options Volume Note
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and raised guidance, the stock dropped as investors appeared to take profits after recent gains and reacted to remaining profitability concerns (negative net margin and ROE noted in the report). Several outlets reported the stock “tumbled” after the release. Stock Reaction Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy intraday volume and elevated volatility accompanied the move lower, which can exacerbate declines and indicates short‑term positioning changes rather than a change in underlying fundamentals. Market Reaction & Volume

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.