nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Shares Down 8.6% – Here’s What Happened

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) shares traded down 8.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $78.00 and last traded at $76.6020. 252,156 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,559,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LASR shares. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.81.

nLight Stock Up 1.1%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -271.09 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $807,834.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 183,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,350,204.56. The trade was a 6.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $1,997,528.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,252,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $139,582,310.76. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 130,780 shares of company stock valued at $8,032,729. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 79,251 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in nLight in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,626,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in nLight by 6,151.0% in the 3rd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,150 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,166,000 after acquiring an additional 125,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.