nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Now Covered by William Blair

William Blair assumed coverage on shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised nLight to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, nLight has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock opened at $64.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -136.85 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a one year low of $6.20 and a one year high of $74.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.77.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total transaction of $116,471.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 93,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,048,973.58. This trade represents a 1.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 19,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total transaction of $1,122,844.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,210,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,949,705.20. This trade represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 162,528 shares of company stock worth $9,223,597 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in nLight by 622.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 77,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after purchasing an additional 66,518 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in nLight by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,215,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,925,000 after purchasing an additional 68,436 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in nLight by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 59,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 15.8% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 29,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 3,957 shares in 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.