nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.9444.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LASR shares. Zacks Research raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, July 17th. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total value of $73,310.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 97,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,613,461.79. The trade was a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total transaction of $278,259.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 169,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,386,803.50. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 three months, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Tema ETFs LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 84,128.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 394,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,444,000 after acquiring an additional 393,723 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in nLight during the second quarter worth $1,100,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of nLight by 263.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 50,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,488,000 after purchasing an additional 36,329 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in nLight by 22.3% in the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 19,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Trading Up 0.8%

nLight stock opened at $73.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -243.33 and a beta of 2.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $69.46 and its 200-day moving average is $62.73. nLight has a 12 month low of $18.62 and a 12 month high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The company had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.