nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) had its price target lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $26.00 to $40.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 22.23% from the company’s current price.

LASR has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “speculative buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on nLight from $27.50 to $33.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, nLight has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $32.67.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of nLight stock traded up $2.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 929,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 663,167. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.65 and a beta of 2.48. The company has a current ratio of 5.63, a quick ratio of 4.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. nLight has a one year low of $6.20 and a one year high of $36.59.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.15. The business had revenue of $61.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 19.12% and a negative net margin of 21.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 62,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total value of $1,937,091.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,319,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,866,987.62. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 38,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total value of $1,083,054.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 273,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,726,508.22. The trade was a 12.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 374,980 shares of company stock worth $10,650,501. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,130,000 after buying an additional 747,958 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of nLight by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 319,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,461,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new position in nLight during the 3rd quarter valued at about $436,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in nLight during the third quarter worth about $241,000. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 4.0% during the third quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 84,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Company 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.