nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Shares Down 9.2% – Should You Sell?

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)’s share price fell 9.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $58.47 and last traded at $59.2870. Approximately 404,225 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 1,469,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LASR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair began coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.50.

nLight Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of -247.10 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other nLight news, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $73,310.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 97,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,613,461.79. This trade represents a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total value of $278,259.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 169,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,386,803.50. This represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in nLight by 263.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 50,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,488,000 after purchasing an additional 36,329 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 22.3% during the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 19,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after buying an additional 3,550 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 17.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 32.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 235,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,422,000 after buying an additional 58,272 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of nLight by 12.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.