Royce & Associates LP Sells 584,178 Shares of nLight $LASR

Royce & Associates LP lessened its stake in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,328,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 584,178 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in nLight were worth $39,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of nLight by 161,736.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,350,000 after acquiring an additional 79,251 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in nLight during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,626,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in nLight by 48,328.6% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,532 shares during the period. Harvey Partners LLC grew its position in nLight by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,473,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares during the period. Finally, Bosun Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at about $599,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

nLight News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham raised its price target from $48 to $70 and assigned a “buy” rating, signaling confidence in continued revenue growth and implying ~24.6% upside from the current price. Needham Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $62.50 and moved to “overweight,” providing additional analyst support for the stock after the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results topped expectations: EPS $0.14 vs. $0.11 consensus and revenue $81.2M vs. $76.7M; revenue rose ~71% year‑over‑year. Management also set Q1 revenue guidance ($70–$76M) above consensus, which supports near‑term growth expectations. Q4 Earnings & Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional interest: Bleakley Financial reported a new stake in nLight, indicating some institutional accumulation. Bleakley Stake
• Positive Sentiment: Management scheduled investor events and conferences in early March, increasing chances for deeper analyst/investor engagement and potentially clearer forward commentary. Investor Events
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options volume was reported, suggesting heightened speculative or hedging activity that can amplify intraday moves but is not itself a directional signal. Options Volume Note
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and raised guidance, the stock dropped as investors appeared to take profits after recent gains and reacted to remaining profitability concerns (negative net margin and ROE noted in the report). Several outlets reported the stock “tumbled” after the release. Stock Reaction Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy intraday volume and elevated volatility accompanied the move lower, which can exacerbate declines and indicates short‑term positioning changes rather than a change in underlying fundamentals. Market Reaction & Volume

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on LASR shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of nLight to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their target price on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.07.

nLight Trading Down 10.7%

Shares of nLight stock opened at $56.19 on Friday. nLight has a twelve month low of $6.20 and a twelve month high of $62.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $46.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.54. The company has a current ratio of 5.63, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of -119.55 and a beta of 2.33.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.40% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.30) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total transaction of $1,190,867.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,285,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,711,100.20. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $2,399,844.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,126,855.68. This represents a 25.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 127,502 shares of company stock valued at $4,622,166 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.70% 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.