nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.50.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LASR shares. Needham & Company LLC raised 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair started coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR stock opened at $61.37 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.69. nLight has a twelve month low of $17.84 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -204.56 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the firm’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 value of $3,200,412.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,375,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,675,541.12. This trade represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $12,501,068.80. This trade represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 sold a total of 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419 over the last three months. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in nLight in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in nLight by 377.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,327,000 after buying an additional 835,720 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in nLight in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in nLight by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,130,000 after buying an additional 747,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in nLight by 537.8% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after buying an additional 532,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.