Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys Shares of 20,227 nLight $LASR

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments established a new position in nLight in Q4, buying 20,227 shares valued at roughly $776,000, while institutional investors now own about 83.88% of the company.
• Several insiders have been selling recently: CFO Joseph Corso sold 12,290 shares and Director Raymond A. Link sold 6,644 shares, with insiders offloading a total of 130,780 shares (~$8.03M) over the past 90 days and now owning 4.70% of the stock.
• nLight reported a Q4 beat with $0.14 EPS vs. $0.11 expected and revenue up 71.3% year-over-year to $81.2M, but still shows negative net margin and ROE; analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $58.31 (stock recently trading near $65).

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 20,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $776,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in nLight in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in nLight in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in nLight by 1,599.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in nLight by 120.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,509 shares of the company's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in nLight by 45.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the company's stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total transaction of $742,193.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 170,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,320,409.44. The trade was a 6.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Link sold 6,644 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.28, for a total value of $420,432.32. Following the sale, the director owned 77,172 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,883,444.16. The trade was a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 130,780 shares of company stock valued at $8,032,729 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

nLight Price Performance

nLight stock opened at $65.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of -139.09 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a 12 month low of $6.91 and a 12 month high of $74.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.82.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 9.28% and a negative net margin of 8.98%.The business's revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.30) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LASR shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird started coverage on nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. William Blair began coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised nLight to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.31.

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. 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.

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