nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) Upgraded by Craig Hallum to Buy Rating

Craig Hallum upgraded shares of nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $14.00 price objective on the stock.

LASR has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on nLIGHT from $17.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on nLIGHT from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.90.

nLIGHT Trading Up 35.3 %

NASDAQ LASR opened at $11.65 on Friday. nLIGHT has a 12 month low of $6.20 and a 12 month high of $14.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.93. The stock has a market cap of $575.96 million, a P/E ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 2.02.

nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.13. nLIGHT had a negative return on equity of 19.53% and a negative net margin of 24.16%. The business had revenue of $51.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that nLIGHT will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 53,511 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.17, for a total value of $437,184.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,267,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,358,963.59. This represents a 4.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLIGHT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of nLIGHT by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 2,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in nLIGHT during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in nLIGHT by 6,563.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 4,791 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in nLIGHT by 3,951.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 3,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in nLIGHT in the fourth quarter worth about $102,000. Hedge funds and other 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.