James Nias Sells 1,487 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $111,762.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 101,744 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,079.04. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total transaction of $110,833.30.
• On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total transaction of $116,471.36.
• On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $201,308.04.

nLight Stock Down 1.9%

nLight stock traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading 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 stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a 1 year low of $12.45 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $68.02 and a 200 day moving average of $51.29.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LASR shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.81.

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.