Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan Takes $11.28 Million Position in nLight $LASR

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan acquired a new position in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 162,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,284,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in nLight in the second quarter worth about $216,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in nLight during the second quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in nLight in the second quarter valued at approximately $304,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in nLight in the second quarter worth $8,938,000. Finally, Odyssean LLC purchased a new position in nLight in the second quarter worth $970,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LASR shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.94.

nLight Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of nLight stock opened at $42.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -171.76 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total value of $8,520,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. This represents a 7.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $299,481.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,549,358.68. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 90 days, insiders sold 397,087 shares of company stock valued at $19,090,182. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.