Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO Sells $110,800.64 in Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $110,800.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,976 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,876.48. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 20th, James Nias sold 415 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total value of $29,502.35.
• On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $110,833.30.
• On Friday, May 15th, James Nias sold 1,487 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $111,762.92.
• On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total value of $116,471.36.
• On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR opened at $78.54 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.06. nLight has a 1 year low of $13.45 and a 1 year high of $86.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -261.79 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. nLight’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LASR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.06.

Key Headlines Impacting nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight’s recent quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million versus $72.14 million expected. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the view that business momentum remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Research coverage has stayed constructive, including reports highlighting nLight as a strong momentum stock and multiple bullish analyst ratings, which can help support investor confidence in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several executives, including CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias, sold shares recently. The filings say the trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Negative Sentiment: Even though the insider sales appear routine, the volume of selling from top executives may still weigh on sentiment in the short term as some investors interpret it as profit-taking after a sharp run-up in the share price.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in nLight by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 235,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,422,000 after acquiring an additional 58,272 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in nLight by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. Amundi bought a new position in nLight in the 1st quarter valued at $1,023,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in nLight by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in nLight by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 55,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,142,000 after acquiring an additional 11,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.