Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Acquires 19,435 Shares of nLight $LASR

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,978 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,435 shares during the quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC owned 0.20% of nLight worth $3,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 79,251 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in nLight by 6,151.0% during the third quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 41,150 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in nLight by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in nLight during the fourth quarter valued at $788,000. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of nLight in the third quarter valued at $22,809,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LASR. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 177,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,501,068.80. This trade represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,375,519 shares in the company, valued at $162,675,541.12. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 405,487 shares of company stock worth $27,566,119 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight’s recent quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million versus $72.14 million expected. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the view that business momentum remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Research coverage has stayed constructive, including reports highlighting nLight as a strong momentum stock and multiple bullish analyst ratings, which can help support investor confidence in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several executives, including CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias, sold shares recently. The filings say the trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Even though the insider sales appear routine, the volume of selling from top executives may still weigh on sentiment in the short term as some investors interpret it as profit-taking after a sharp run-up in the share price.

nLight Trading Up 2.8%

nLight stock opened at $78.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of -261.79 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a 12-month low of $13.45 and a 12-month high of $86.95.

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 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 business’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

nLight Profile

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.