Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Director Sells $153,905.64 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Director Geoffrey Moore sold 4,452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.57, for a total value of $153,905.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,809,331.05. This represents a 5.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Geoffrey Moore also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 15th, Geoffrey Moore sold 4,452 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $171,179.40.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR opened at $37.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -148.52 and a beta of 2.37. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.03. nLight has a 1 year low of $28.05 and a 1 year high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. nLight’s quarterly revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LASR. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on nLight in a report on Friday, July 10th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.50.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in nLight by 5.1% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 749,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,173,000 after buying an additional 36,543 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 743.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 422,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,446,000 after acquiring an additional 372,199 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of nLight by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 7,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

About nLight

nLight, Inc (NASDAQ: LASR) develops and manufactures semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, aerospace and defense, and other specialized applications. Its products are designed to deliver high optical power, precision and reliability for uses such as materials processing, metal cutting and welding, additive manufacturing, and directed-energy systems.

The company offers a range of laser components and systems, including high-power diode lasers, fiber lasers, and related optical and beam-delivery technologies.