nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 41,373 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,373 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,912,659.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,334,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,323,878.40. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.

nLight Stock Performance

LASR stock traded up $5.13 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $76.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,031,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,495. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.88. nLight has a 1 year low of $13.38 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -254.76 and a beta of 2.34.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of nLight by 32.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 235,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,422,000 after buying an additional 58,272 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in nLight by 12.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Amundi purchased a new position in nLight in the first quarter valued at about $1,023,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in nLight by 67.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in nLight by 25.0% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 55,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,142,000 after purchasing an additional 11,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight reported strong quarterly results earlier this month, with EPS of $0.20 versus estimates of $0.08 and revenue of $80.18 million versus expectations of $72.14 million. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth story and helping support the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms reiterating or raising buy ratings and price targets, including targets as high as $100. That suggests the market still sees room for more upside in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed by CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias. The company said the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Neutral Sentiment: The selling was sizable in dollar terms, especially from the CEO and CFO, so investors may still view it as a sentiment headwind even though the transactions appear routine.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LASR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

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.