nLight $LASR Shares Sold by Stephens Investment Management Group LLC

Key Points

• Stephens Investment Management Group cut its nLight stake by 10% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 760,729 shares worth about $28.5 million at quarter-end.
• Multiple insiders sold shares, including CEO Scott H. Keeney and CAO James Nias, and insider selling totaled 130,780 shares over the last three months.
• nLight reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.20 versus the $0.08 estimate and revenue of $80.18 million, up 55.2% year over year; analysts currently have a Moderate Buy consensus with a $67.81 target price.

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC trimmed its stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 760,729 shares of the company's stock after selling 84,727 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned approximately 1.50% of nLight worth $28,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter valued at $266,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new stake in nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $375,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in nLight by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA acquired a new stake in nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $335,000. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $229,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 95,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. This represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $1,997,528.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,252,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at $139,582,310.76. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 130,780 shares of company stock worth $8,032,729. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LASR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 17th. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, nLight has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.81.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of LASR opened at $75.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -252.02 and a beta of 2.34. nLight has a one year low of $12.17 and a one year high of $86.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.76.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.nLight's revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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