Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in nLight $LASR

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) by 38.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,534 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in nLight were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in nLight by 7,142.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in nLight by 155.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in nLight during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 16,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total value of $1,200,239.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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. Also, CAO James Nias sold 940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.99, for a total transaction of $73,310.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 97,621 shares in the company, valued at $7,613,461.79. The trade was a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 391,038 shares of company stock valued at $28,367,419. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of nLight stock opened at $63.25 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.50. nLight has a one year low of $17.84 and a one year high of $86.95. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of -210.83 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its 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 net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LASR. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price 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. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.50.

nLight 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.