nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $87.9375.

LASR has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. 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. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Insider Activity at nLight

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of nLight stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total transaction of $278,259.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 169,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,386,803.50. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $73,310.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 97,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,613,461.79. This represents a 0.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 193,595 shares of company stock valued at $14,273,701. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in nLight by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in nLight by 0.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in nLight by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of nLight by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of nLight by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of nLight stock opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. nLight has a 52 week low of $24.87 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of -216.00 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The firm had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.2 EPS for the current year.

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.