Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells $1,200,239.40 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 16,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total value of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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.

nLight Price Performance

LASR opened at $65.85 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of -219.49 and a beta of 2.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $70.22 and a 200-day moving average of $55.28. nLight has a 52 week low of $16.87 and a 52 week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted 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 company had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on LASR. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.06.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in nLight by 161,736.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 79,251 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 6,151.0% in the third quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,150 shares in the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 103,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 19,435 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of nLight by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in nLight during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $788,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view nLight favorably, with the stock carrying an average rating of “Moderate Buy”, which may help support longer-term confidence in the company. nLight Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares on June 4 and 3,840 shares on June 3 under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting, which suggests routine selling rather than a change in outlook. SEC filing for CFO Joseph John Corso sale
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 8,901 shares on June 3 and 16,089 shares on June 4, also through a 10b5-1 plan for tax withholding on vested awards; the company says the trades were planned and do not necessarily signal fundamental weakness. SEC filing for CEO Scott H. Keeney sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer James Nias also sold 940 shares on June 3 under the same type of pre-arranged plan, adding to the near-term insider selling activity. SEC filing for CAO James Nias sale

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.