Joseph John Corso Sells 20,243 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CFO Joseph John Corso sold 20,243 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $1,386,240.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 213,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,589,527.04. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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.

Joseph John Corso also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 20th, Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total transaction of $2,497,510.40.
• On Monday, May 18th, Joseph John Corso sold 19,575 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total transaction of $1,386,301.50.
• On Friday, May 15th, Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $1,386,326.20.
• On Friday, March 6th, Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total transaction of $742,193.10.
• On Thursday, March 5th, Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $807,834.48.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR opened at $78.54 on Friday. nLight has a 1-year low of $13.45 and a 1-year high of $86.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -261.79 and a beta of 2.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.06.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

Key nLight News

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight’s recent quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million versus $72.14 million expected. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the view that business momentum remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Research coverage has stayed constructive, including reports highlighting nLight as a strong momentum stock and multiple bullish analyst ratings, which can help support investor confidence in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several executives, including CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias, sold shares recently. The filings say the trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Even though the insider sales appear routine, the volume of selling from top executives may still weigh on sentiment in the short term as some investors interpret it as profit-taking after a sharp run-up in the share price.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in nLight in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in nLight by 377.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after acquiring an additional 835,720 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in nLight in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 747,958 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 532,470 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.