Wall Street Zen Upgrades nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) to Buy

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LASR. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of nLight from $33.50 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on nLight from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Roth Capital initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Finally, Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.29.

nLight Price Performance

LASR opened at $41.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.56. nLight has a twelve month low of $6.20 and a twelve month high of $41.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.24 and a beta of 2.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $1,190,867.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,285,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,711,100.20. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO James Nias sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $36,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 99,512 shares in the company, valued at $2,985,360. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 141,262 shares of company stock worth $5,101,910. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in nLight by 377.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after acquiring an additional 835,720 shares in the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in nLight during the third quarter worth about $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,130,000 after purchasing an additional 747,958 shares in the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,810,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of nLight by 537.8% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after purchasing an additional 532,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.