Primecap Management Co. CA Makes New $15.70 Million Investment in nLight $LASR

Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 225,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,702,000. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 0.39% of nLight at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of nLight by 1,599.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in nLight by 7,142.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in nLight by 155.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in nLight in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in nLight by 7,871.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total transaction of $299,481.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,549,358.68. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total transaction of $8,520,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. This represents a 7.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 438,458 shares of company stock valued at $22,125,159. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $43.70 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.06. nLight has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -174.80 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The business’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LASR shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.