nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells $1,200,239.40 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 16,089 shares of nLight stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR traded down $9.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $65.85. 1,160,903 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,511,003. nLight has a 52 week low of $16.87 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.34 and a 200-day moving average of $55.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -219.49 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.04) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LASR. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair began coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in nLight by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 622.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 77,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 66,518 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in nLight by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 107,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after acquiring an additional 7,179 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at $600,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.