nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 41,371 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.36, for a total value of $3,034,976.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,210,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,127,727.44. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Down 4.8%

LASR opened at $70.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of -235.26 and a beta of 2.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.09. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $15.05 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95.

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

Institutional Trading of nLight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the first quarter worth $52,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 155.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.06.

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.