nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of nLight to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of nLight from $33.50 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.43.

nLight Trading Down 8.5%

NASDAQ LASR opened at $43.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.63, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. nLight has a 1-year low of $6.20 and a 1-year high of $48.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -49.92 and a beta of 2.33.

Insider Activity at nLight

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $2,399,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,126,855.68. This represents a 25.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 12,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.33, for a total transaction of $443,744.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 102,576 shares in the company, valued at $3,624,010.08. This represents a 10.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 141,262 shares of company stock worth $5,101,910. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in nLight by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $661,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of nLight by 12.9% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of nLight by 4.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in nLight by 147.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. lifted its position in nLight by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 25,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.