225,539 Shares in nLight $LASR Acquired by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 225,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,702,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,384,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in nLight by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in nLight by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LASR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, May 8th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total value of $278,259.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 169,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,386,803.50. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.15, for a total value of $8,024,262.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,469,471.85. This trade represents a 7.68% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 438,458 shares of company stock worth $22,125,159. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Performance

LASR stock opened at $43.70 on Thursday. nLight has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -174.80 and a beta of 2.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.06.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $82.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The business’s revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

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.