nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $68.20 and last traded at $67.69, with a volume of 4873288 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $56.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on LASR shares. Robert W. Baird began coverage on nLight in a report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.31.

nLight Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.36. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of -142.60 and a beta of 2.27.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.nLight’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.30) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,285,020 shares in the company, valued at $85,711,100.20. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total transaction of $2,399,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,126,855.68. The trade was a 25.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of nLight by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares in the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC grew its position in shares of nLight by 1.7% during the second quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,473,000 after buying an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of nLight by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,684,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in nLight by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,485,000 after acquiring an additional 341,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,344,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,468,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.