nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Trading Down 6.4% – Here’s Why

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) traded down 6.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $73.00 and last traded at $74.0720. 130,508 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,514,860 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

nLight Stock Down 7.5%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $69.83 and a 200 day moving average of $53.57. The firm has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -243.08 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at nLight

In other nLight news, CAO James Nias sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total value of $29,502.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,561 shares in the company, valued at $7,006,701.49. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 41,373 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,912,659.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,334,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,323,878.40. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 405,487 shares of company stock worth $27,566,119. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the first quarter worth about $52,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 155.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.