Trexquant Investment LP Sells 62,676 Shares of nLight $LASR

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in nLight by 45.3%, selling 62,676 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 75,565 shares valued at approximately $587,000.
• Multiple institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Russell Investments Group Ltd., significantly increased their stakes in nLight, with GAMMA's stake rising by 6,563%.
• Analysts have set new price targets for nLight, with Craig Hallum raising its target to $24.00, while Stifel Nicolaus increased its target to $26.00 following a recent positive earnings report.

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its position in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) by 45.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 75,565 shares of the company's stock after selling 62,676 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.15% of nLight worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LASR. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in nLight by 6,563.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,864 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in nLight by 322.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,571 shares of the company's stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 11,884 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in nLight by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in nLight by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 19,112 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in nLight by 129.7% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 30,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 17,405 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on nLight from $14.00 to $27.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark upped their target price on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "speculative buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $26.42.

nLight Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:LASR traded down $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.67. 361,316 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 856,423. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.95. nLight has a 52-week low of $6.20 and a 52-week high of $30.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.41 and a current ratio of 5.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.18 and a beta of 2.44.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.15. nLight had a negative return on equity of 19.12% and a negative net margin of 21.66%.The company had revenue of $61.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. nLight's revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,588 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $106,671.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 265,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,890,877.14. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 9,604 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.14, for a total value of $279,860.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,396,936 shares in the company, valued at $69,846,715.04. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 372,082 shares of company stock worth $9,718,815 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.