nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells $3,034,976.56 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.36, for a total transaction of $3,034,976.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,210,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,127,727.44. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Price Performance

NASDAQ LASR traded down $3.54 during trading on Monday, hitting $70.58. 1,143,088 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,333,947. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.09. nLight has a 12-month low of $15.05 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -235.26 and a beta of 2.31.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after buying an additional 125,446 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC raised its stake in nLight by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,684,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of nLight by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,485,000 after purchasing an additional 341,948 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of nLight by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,320,000 after purchasing an additional 20,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of nLight during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,315,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on LASR. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, nLight has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

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.