Union Square Park Capital Management LLC Invests $570,000 in nLight $LASR

Union Square Park Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 15.5% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 8,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 1,174 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of nLight in the first quarter valued at $10,564,000. Atika Capital Management LLC bought a new position in nLight in the first quarter worth $3,763,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in nLight by 61.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 291,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,638,000 after purchasing an additional 110,829 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in nLight during the first quarter worth $657,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR stock opened at $70.02 on Friday. nLight has a 52 week low of $18.62 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of -233.39 and a beta of 2.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $69.35 and its 200-day moving average is $62.78.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total transaction of $2,497,510.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 177,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,501,068.80. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,375,519 shares in the company, valued at $162,675,541.12. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders sold a total of 391,038 shares of company stock valued at $28,367,419 in the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on LASR. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.94.

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.