nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney Sells 16,089 Shares

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Scott Keeney sold 16,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

nLight Stock Down 12.1%

LASR traded down $9.04 on Friday, reaching $65.85. 1,160,903 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,511,003. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -219.49 and a beta of 2.31. nLight has a one year low of $16.87 and a one year high of $86.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.03.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LASR shares. William Blair started coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in nLight by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 66,518 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 107,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after buying an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $600,000. Institutional investors 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.