nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 181,750 Shares of Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total transaction of $8,520,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. This represents a 7.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:LASR opened at $43.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -173.20 and a beta of 2.31. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $62.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.08. nLight has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in nLight during the second quarter valued at approximately $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in nLight by 7,636.1% in the second 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 period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter worth $41,315,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter worth $65,374,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew 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 valued at $31,327,000 after acquiring an additional 835,720 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LASR shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on nLight in a report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.94.

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.