nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.0625.

A number of research firms have issued reports on LASR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

nLight Price Performance

NASDAQ:LASR opened at $76.39 on Thursday. nLight has a 12-month low of $16.25 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -254.62 and a beta of 2.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.72.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 177,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,501,068.80. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 46,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,375,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,675,541.12. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 439,705 shares of company stock valued at $30,847,998 in the last quarter. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the first quarter valued at $52,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth 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 period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 155.9% in the fourth 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 period. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.