James Nias Sells 1,487 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO James Nias sold 1,487 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $111,762.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 101,744 shares in the company, valued at $7,647,079.04. The trade was a 1.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $110,833.30.
• On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total value of $116,471.36.
• On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04.

nLight Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ LASR opened at $71.30 on Thursday. nLight has a twelve month low of $13.24 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of -237.66 and a beta of 2.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.22 and its 200 day moving average is $51.57.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LASR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, William Blair began coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, nLight presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 622.7% during the first 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. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 8.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 107,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of nLight during the second quarter valued at $600,000. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.