nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on LASR. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Northcoast Research raised nLight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $82.06.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.18. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -193.39 and a beta of 2.46. nLight has a 1-year low of $28.05 and a 1-year high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.11. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.03%. The business had revenue of $73.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.16 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at nLight

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total value of $8,520,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. The trade was a 7.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Geoffrey Moore sold 4,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.57, for a total value of $153,905.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,809,331.05. The trade was a 5.19% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 621,149 shares of company stock worth $27,153,700. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the 2nd quarter valued at about $339,687,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $65,374,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in nLight by 125.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,026,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,991,000 after buying an additional 570,728 shares during the last quarter. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 84,128.8% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 394,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,444,000 after acquiring an additional 393,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 2,995.5% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 406,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,309,000 after buying an additional 393,488 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

About nLight

nLIGHT, Inc. develops and manufactures lasers and related photonics products for industrial, aerospace and defense applications. Its offerings include high-power semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers and ultrafast lasers, along with components and systems used to deliver and control laser energy. The company’s products support applications such as materials processing and other industrial tasks, as well as defense technologies including directed-energy systems. nLIGHT serves customers in the United States and international markets.