Scott Keeney Sells 181,750 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.15, for a total transaction of $8,024,262.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,469,471.85. This trade represents a 7.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Performance

NASDAQ LASR opened at $43.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.80 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a one year low of $27.22 and a one year high of $86.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $62.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.06.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LASR. Craig Hallum upped their price target on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.94.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $223,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of nLight by 7,636.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,744,000 after buying an additional 4,207,248 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the second quarter worth $131,000. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in nLight in the second quarter valued at $444,000. Finally, GTS Securities LLC acquired a new position in nLight during the 2nd quarter worth $237,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.