nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 41,373 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,373 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.64, for a total value of $3,253,572.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,251,400 shares in the company, valued at $177,050,096. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LASR opened at $70.58 on Tuesday. nLight has a 1 year low of $15.05 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -235.26 and a beta of 2.34. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.09.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LASR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 4th quarter worth $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 3rd quarter worth $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased 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 last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on LASR shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, nLight has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.