nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of nLight to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of nLight from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

nLight Stock Up 6.8%

LASR stock opened at $54.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.34. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.03 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a current ratio of 5.63. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $6.20 and a fifty-two week high of $54.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $1,190,867.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,285,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,711,100.20. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total value of $2,399,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 196,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,126,855.68. The trade was a 25.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 128,702 shares of company stock valued at $4,658,166. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,626,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 161,736.7% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after acquiring an additional 79,251 shares during the period. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in nLight during the second quarter valued at about $11,810,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in nLight by 48,328.6% during the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,532 shares during the period. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of nLight by 1.7% in the second quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,473,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.