nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Earns "Buy" Rating from Craig Hallum

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities researchers at Craig Hallum in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $24.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $14.00. Craig Hallum's price target indicates a potential upside of 22.26% from the stock's current price.

Separately, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of nLight from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, nLight has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.70.

nLight Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of nLight stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $19.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,376,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 433,143. The company has a market cap of $970.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.37 and a beta of 2.26. The firm's fifty day moving average is $13.79 and its 200-day moving average is $11.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.63 and a current ratio of 5.81. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $6.20 and a fifty-two week high of $19.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $51.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.77 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 26.80% and a negative return on equity of 22.23%. nLight's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.17) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 40,680 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.07, for a total transaction of $653,727.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,281,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,594,347.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 10,062 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.62, for a total transaction of $177,292.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 166,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,931,298.44. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 168,233 shares of company stock worth $2,787,492 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of nLight by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,667,332 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,495,000 after acquiring an additional 74,163 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of nLight by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 3,034,044 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,575,000 after acquiring an additional 156,285 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 2,652,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,821,000 after acquiring an additional 314,375 shares in the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC lifted its position in shares of nLight by 114.1% in the 4th quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,481,677 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of nLight by 29.5% in the 1st quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,319,917 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,256,000 after acquiring an additional 300,924 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

nLight Company 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.