Scott Keeney Sells 115,252 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 115,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.32, for a total value of $4,762,212.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,060,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,120,604.88. This trade represents a 5.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of NASDAQ LASR traded down $1.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 770,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,249. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.24. nLight has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -157.16 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.58 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. nLight’s quarterly revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of nLight by 2,995.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 406,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,309,000 after acquiring an additional 393,488 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in nLight during the second quarter valued at about $175,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in nLight by 10.4% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in nLight in the second quarter valued at about $131,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in nLight in the second quarter valued at about $357,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LASR. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research cut nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.94.

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.