Brokerages Set nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Target Price at $40.00

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.0714.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 31,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.51, for a total value of $1,190,867.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,285,020 shares in the company, valued at $85,711,100.20. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 66,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.32, for a total value of $2,399,844.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,126,855.68. The trade was a 25.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 127,502 shares of company stock worth $4,622,166 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LASR. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of nLight by 155.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key nLight News

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham raised its price target from $48 to $70 and assigned a “buy” rating, signaling confidence in continued revenue growth and implying ~24.6% upside from the current price. Needham Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $62.50 and moved to “overweight,” providing additional analyst support for the stock after the quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results topped expectations: EPS $0.14 vs. $0.11 consensus and revenue $81.2M vs. $76.7M; revenue rose ~71% year?over?year. Management also set Q1 revenue guidance ($70–$76M) above consensus, which supports near?term growth expectations. Q4 Earnings & Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional interest: Bleakley Financial reported a new stake in nLight, indicating some institutional accumulation. Bleakley Stake
• Positive Sentiment: Management scheduled investor events and conferences in early March, increasing chances for deeper analyst/investor engagement and potentially clearer forward commentary. Investor Events
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually large options volume was reported, suggesting heightened speculative or hedging activity that can amplify intraday moves but is not itself a directional signal. Options Volume Note
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and raised guidance, the stock dropped as investors appeared to take profits after recent gains and reacted to remaining profitability concerns (negative net margin and ROE noted in the report). Several outlets reported the stock “tumbled” after the release. Stock Reaction Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy intraday volume and elevated volatility accompanied the move lower, which can exacerbate declines and indicates short?term positioning changes rather than a change in underlying fundamentals. Market Reaction & Volume

nLight Stock Performance

NASDAQ LASR opened at $56.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 4.36. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -119.55 and a beta of 2.33. nLight has a 1 year low of $6.20 and a 1 year high of $62.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.54.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.40% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.30) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.