Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Takes Position in nLight $LASR

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 67,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,673,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in nLight in the 2nd quarter valued at $339,687,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in nLight during the 4th quarter worth $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in nLight by 377.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after buying an additional 835,720 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 532,470 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 119.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 755,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,393,000 after acquiring an additional 411,360 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LASR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. 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. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.94.

nLight Stock Performance

nLight stock opened at $47.88 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -191.52 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a one year low of $24.87 and a one year high of $86.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.12.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other nLight news, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $73,310.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 97,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,613,461.79. This trade represents a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a 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. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 16,089 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 116,331 shares of company stock valued at $8,834,029. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

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.