Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Invests $27.06 Million in nLight $LASR

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 388,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,061,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 1,599.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of nLight by 155.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in nLight during the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in nLight by 7,871.4% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at nLight

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total value of $278,259.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 169,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,386,803.50. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 16,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,003,909.40. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,331 shares of company stock worth $8,834,029. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

nLight Stock Down 6.9%

NASDAQ:LASR opened at $44.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -176.44 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a 1-year low of $27.22 and a 1-year high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The firm had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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, May 21st. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.94.

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.