nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 41,371 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.36, for a total transaction of $3,034,976.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,210,029 shares in the company, valued at $162,127,727.44. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Performance

LASR stock traded down $3.54 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $70.58. 1,143,088 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,333,947. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.09. nLight has a 52 week low of $15.05 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of -235.26 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued 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. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in nLight by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in nLight by 0.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in nLight by 1.6% in the fourth 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 grew its position in nLight by 8.0% in the fourth 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

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.