nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Shares Cross Above 50-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)’s stock price crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.48 and traded as high as $44.21. nLight shares last traded at $43.21, with a volume of 1,936,073 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LASR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of nLight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Zacks Research lowered nLight from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on nLight in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Northcoast Research upgraded nLight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a report on Thursday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.06.

nLight Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of -193.39 and a beta of 2.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.18.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $73.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.16 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 1.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 181,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.88, for a total transaction of $8,520,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,434,628.32. This represents a 7.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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. Also, Director William Gossman sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.36, for a total value of $665,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 100,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,447,134.36. This represents a 13.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 621,149 shares of company stock valued at $27,153,700. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of nLight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $339,687,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of nLight in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,374,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 125.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,026,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,991,000 after purchasing an additional 570,728 shares during the period. Tema ETFs LLC increased its holdings in shares of nLight by 84,128.8% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 394,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,444,000 after purchasing an additional 393,723 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of nLight by 2,995.5% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 406,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,309,000 after purchasing an additional 393,488 shares during the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About nLight

nLIGHT, Inc. develops and manufactures lasers and related photonics products for industrial, aerospace and defense applications. Its offerings include high-power semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers and ultrafast lasers, along with components and systems used to deliver and control laser energy. The company’s products support applications such as materials processing and other industrial tasks, as well as defense technologies including directed-energy systems. nLIGHT serves customers in the United States and international markets.