nLight $LASR Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 875,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 52,879 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in nLight were worth $32,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in nLight by 377.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,327,000 after acquiring an additional 835,720 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in nLight in the third quarter valued at approximately $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 18.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,130,000 after acquiring an additional 747,958 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in nLight by 537.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after acquiring an additional 532,470 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in nLight by 119.4% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 755,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,393,000 after acquiring an additional 411,360 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at nLight

In related news, Director Raymond A. Link sold 6,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total value of $420,432.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 77,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,883,444.16. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 19,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total transaction of $1,122,844.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,210,029 shares in the company, valued at $129,949,705.20. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 130,780 shares of company stock worth $8,032,729. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

nLight Price Performance

LASR opened at $80.42 on Thursday. nLight has a 12 month low of $12.17 and a 12 month high of $86.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -268.06 and a beta of 2.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.12.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.