James Nias Sells 1,025 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,025 shares of nLight stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.69, for a total transaction of $41,707.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 96,596 shares in the company, valued at $3,930,491.24. This trade represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Trading Up 3.7%

nLight stock traded up $1.47 on Tuesday, reaching $41.53. 1,549,626 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,449,755. nLight has a twelve month low of $27.22 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of -166.12 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The firm’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in nLight by 10.4% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in nLight in the second quarter valued at $131,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in nLight during the second quarter worth $357,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of nLight during the second quarter valued at $223,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7,636.1% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,744,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of 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, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.94.

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.