Scott Keeney Sells 19,096 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 19,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total value of $1,122,844.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,210,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,949,705.20. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR stock opened at $62.77 on Friday. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $6.20 and a fifty-two week high of $69.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of -133.55 and a beta of 2.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.77.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The firm had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.30) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in nLight by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of nLight by 1.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of nLight by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LASR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Roth Mkm increased their price target on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.31.

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.