nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $73.00 and last traded at $72.0490, with a volume of 87586 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $71.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on LASR shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of nLight to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.31.

nLight Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -152.14 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.49 and a 200 day moving average of $41.15.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The firm’s revenue was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.30) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In related news, CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 95,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. This represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total transaction of $627,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 92,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,847.04. This represents a 9.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 162,528 shares of company stock worth $9,223,597. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter worth about $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of nLight by 377.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,327,000 after acquiring an additional 835,720 shares in the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of nLight in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in nLight by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,130,000 after purchasing an additional 747,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in nLight by 537.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,711,000 after purchasing an additional 532,470 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.