Robert W. Baird Begins Coverage on nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)

Research analysts at Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price indicates a potential upside of 56.74% from the company’s current price.

LASR has been the subject of several other reports. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded nLight to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

nLight Stock Down 9.6%

NASDAQ LASR traded down $6.41 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.61. 1,747,162 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,516,476. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $47.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.36. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -128.96 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $6.20 and a fifty-two week high of $69.52.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.30) EPS. Analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $2,399,844.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,126,855.68. This represents a 25.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,285,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,711,100.20. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new position in nLight during the 3rd quarter worth $8,626,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of nLight by 161,736.7% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 79,251 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 48,328.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC lifted its position in nLight by 1.7% during the second 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 acquired a new stake in nLight during the second quarter worth about $599,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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. 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.