nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Price Up 11.8% After Analyst Upgrade

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) rose 11.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $82.23 and last traded at $82.6190. Approximately 318,531 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 1,552,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.91.

LASR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. William Blair began coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $1,997,528.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,252,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,582,310.76. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 95,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. The trade was a 3.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 130,780 shares of company stock worth $8,032,729 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of nLight by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of nLight by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of nLight by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of nLight by 155.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -275.68 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.58 and a 200 day moving average of $48.73.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 5.17% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that nLight will post -0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.