nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Shares Down 5.4% – What’s Next?

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) dropped 5.4% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $66.43 and last traded at $67.8720. Approximately 253,925 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,640,822 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LASR. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.31.

nLight Trading Down 8.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.09 and a beta of 2.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.36.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The firm had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.30) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Raymond A. Link sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total value of $627,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 92,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,847.04. This represents a 9.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $1,997,528.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,252,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $139,582,310.76. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 162,528 shares of company stock worth $9,223,597 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in nLight by 377.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after purchasing an additional 835,720 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in nLight during the third quarter worth approximately $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 18.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,130,000 after buying an additional 747,958 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of nLight by 537.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after buying an additional 532,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.