nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 42,584 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 42,584 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $3,200,613.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,467,445 shares in the company, valued at $185,453,166.20. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Stock Performance

NASDAQ LASR traded down $1.34 on Tuesday, hitting $69.49. The stock had a trading volume of 997,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,100. nLight has a 52-week low of $12.45 and a 52-week high of $86.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.02 and a 200-day moving average of $51.29.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company 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, research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 7,142.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 155.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in nLight during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LASR. William Blair began coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, nLight has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.81.

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.