nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Sells $1,386,301.50 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Joseph John Corso sold 19,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $1,386,301.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 233,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,521,668.62. The trade was a 7.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Joseph John Corso also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 15th, Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $1,386,326.20.
• On Friday, March 6th, Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $742,193.10.
• On Thursday, March 5th, Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $807,834.48.

nLight Price Performance

NASDAQ:LASR traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.49. The stock had a trading volume of 997,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,100. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $68.02 and its 200 day moving average is $51.29. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $12.45 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The company’s revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that nLight will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 341,948 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in nLight by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,320,000 after buying an additional 20,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in nLight in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LASR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.81.

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.