Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Takes $3.74 Million Position in nLight $LASR

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new position in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 53,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,740,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LASR. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in nLight by 1,599.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in nLight by 7,142.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in nLight in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in nLight by 7,871.4% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

NASDAQ LASR opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $65.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.09. nLight has a twelve month low of $24.87 and a twelve month high of $86.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -216.00 and a beta of 2.31.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 2.83% and a negative net margin of 4.02%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.94.

Insider Activity at nLight

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 41,373 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.64, for a total value of $3,253,572.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,251,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,050,096. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 177,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,501,068.80. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 193,595 shares of company stock valued at $14,273,701. Company insiders own 3.10% 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.