nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target 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. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on nLight in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.31.

nLight Price Performance

LASR opened at $57.02 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.32. nLight has a 12 month low of $6.20 and a 12 month high of $74.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -121.32 and a beta of 2.27.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The business had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.30) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 19,096 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total transaction of $1,122,844.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,210,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,949,705.20. This trade represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 6,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total transaction of $420,432.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 77,172 shares in the company, valued at $4,883,444.16. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 162,528 shares of company stock valued at $9,223,597 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in nLight by 1,599.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 period. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.