nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. William Blair began coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, nLight has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.31.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -114.89 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a 52 week low of $6.20 and a 52 week high of $74.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.07 and its 200 day moving average is $42.12.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.30) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $742,193.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 170,896 shares in the company, valued at $10,320,409.44. This represents a 6.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 6,644 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total transaction of $420,432.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 77,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,883,444.16. This trade represents a 7.93% decrease in their position. 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. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in nLight by 622.7% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 77,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 66,518 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in nLight by 8.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in nLight by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.88% 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.