nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias Sells 1,025 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.69, for a total value of $41,707.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 96,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,930,491.24. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Stock Up 3.7%

LASR opened at $41.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -166.12 and a beta of 2.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.34. nLight has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LASR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report 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. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in nLight in the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in nLight by 7,142.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 155.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the second quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.