nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Price Up 6.1% – Still a Buy?

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) rose 6.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $68.94 and last traded at $69.71. Approximately 306,116 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 1,467,556 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LASR. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair started coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.94.

nLight Trading Up 8.0%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.39 and a 200-day moving average of $61.55. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -236.78 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 16,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,003,909.40. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total value of $278,259.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 169,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,386,803.50. This represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of nLight

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

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.