50,000 Shares in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Bought by King Luther Capital Management Corp

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp acquired 50,000 shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR), valuing the investment at approximately $388,000, which reflects their growing interest in the company.
• Several analysts have recently upgraded their ratings for nLight, with target prices ranging from $24.00 to $28.00, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• nLight reported a quarterly earnings surprise by achieving $0.06 earnings per share (EPS), surpassing the analysts' consensus estimate of -$0.09, alongside a 22.2% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

King Luther Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $388,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned approximately 0.10% of nLight as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,667,332 shares of the company's stock worth $28,495,000 after buying an additional 74,163 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 5.4% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 3,034,044 shares of the company's stock worth $23,575,000 after buying an additional 156,285 shares during the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 2,652,115 shares of the company's stock worth $27,821,000 after buying an additional 314,375 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 140.4% in the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,207,580 shares of the company's stock worth $9,383,000 after buying an additional 705,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of nLight by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,018,993 shares of the company's stock worth $10,689,000 after buying an additional 90,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LASR shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Craig Hallum restated a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 price objective (up from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of nLight from $14.00 to $27.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, August 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.42.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 901,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,018,624. The company has a current ratio of 5.63, a quick ratio of 4.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of -27.56 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.05 and a 200 day moving average of $13.50. nLight has a 12-month low of $6.20 and a 12-month high of $28.43.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 21.66% and a negative return on equity of 19.12%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 10,062 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.62, for a total transaction of $177,292.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 166,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,931,298.44. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO James Nias sold 1,113 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.73, for a total transaction of $29,750.49. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 103,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,755,381.86. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 203,028 shares of company stock valued at $3,475,052 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.