Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells 45,191 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 45,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $3,200,426.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,422,254 shares in the company, valued at $171,544,028.28. This represents a 1.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ LASR traded down $1.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $69.49. The company had a trading volume of 997,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,100. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $12.45 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.29.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 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 company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LASR has been the subject of several research reports. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in nLight in the third quarter worth $41,000. 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.