Key Points
- CEO Scott Keeney sold 9,753 nLight shares at an average price of $40.69, generating approximately $396,850. The sale covered tax-withholding obligations tied to vested equity awards and reduced his stake by 0.45%.
- nLight reported quarterly revenue of $82.59 million, up 33.8% year over year and ahead of estimates, while earnings per share of $0.15 exceeded expectations by $0.01. The company nevertheless posted a negative net margin and analysts expect a full-year loss.
- Institutional investors own 83.88% of nLight, and analysts maintain a generally positive outlook with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an $87.94 price target, despite mixed individual ratings.
nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CAO James Nias sold 1,025 shares of nLight stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.69, for a total transaction of $41,707.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 96,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,930,491.24. This trade represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.
nLight Stock Up 3.7%
Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $41.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -166.12 and a beta of 2.30. nLight has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $86.95.
nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. nLight's revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.
Institutional Trading of nLight
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight during the second quarter valued at about $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,636.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company's stock worth $296,744,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207,248 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of nLight in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,315,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,374,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of nLight by 377.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company's stock worth $31,327,000 after purchasing an additional 835,720 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have weighed in on LASR. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of nLight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.94.
Read Our Latest Report on nLight
About nLight
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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