Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Sells $1,386,301.50 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Joseph John Corso sold 19,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $1,386,301.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 233,291 shares in the company, valued at $16,521,668.62. The trade was a 7.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Joseph John Corso also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 20th, Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40.
• On Tuesday, May 19th, Joseph John Corso sold 20,243 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $1,386,240.64.
• On Friday, May 15th, Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $1,386,326.20.
• On Friday, March 6th, Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $742,193.10.
• On Thursday, March 5th, Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $807,834.48.

nLight Stock Up 7.2%

Shares of nLight stock opened at $76.43 on Friday. nLight has a twelve month low of $13.38 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -254.76 and a beta of 2.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.47 and its 200 day moving average is $51.88.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in nLight by 161,736.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 79,251 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the third quarter worth approximately $8,626,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of nLight by 6,151.0% during the third quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,150 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight reported strong quarterly results earlier this month, with EPS of $0.20 versus estimates of $0.08 and revenue of $80.18 million versus expectations of $72.14 million. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth story and helping support the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms reiterating or raising buy ratings and price targets, including targets as high as $100. That suggests the market still sees room for more upside in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed by CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias. The company said the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Neutral Sentiment: The selling was sizable in dollar terms, especially from the CEO and CFO, so investors may still view it as a sentiment headwind even though the transactions appear routine.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.06.

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.