Scott Keeney Sells 41,373 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 41,373 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.64, for a total value of $3,253,572.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,251,400 shares in the company, valued at $177,050,096. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Trading Down 4.8%

LASR stock traded down $3.54 during trading on Monday, hitting $70.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,143,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,333,947. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.09. The company has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -235.26 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $15.05 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LASR. Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. 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. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new position in shares of nLight during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new position in shares of nLight during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.