Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 13,772 Shares of nLight $LASR

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd nearly doubled its nLight position in Q1, buying 13,772 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 27,589 shares worth about $1.57 million.
• nLight reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.20 versus the $0.08 estimate and revenue of $80.18 million, up 55.2% year over year.
• Wall Street sentiment is mostly positive, with analysts giving nLight an average “Buy” rating and an average price target of $79.81, though insider sales were also notable in the recent period.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Free Report) by 99.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,589 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 13,772 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in nLight were worth $1,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LASR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of nLight by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,593 shares of the company's stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in nLight by 622.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 77,201 shares of the company's stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 66,518 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in nLight by 8.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company's stock worth $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of nLight by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 107,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 7,179 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of nLight during the 2nd quarter valued at about $600,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LASR opened at $74.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.49. nLight has a fifty-two week low of $17.84 and a fifty-two week high of $86.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -249.03 and a beta of 2.30.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 4.18%. nLight's quarterly revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LASR shares. Zacks Research raised shares of nLight from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Craig Hallum upped their target price on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, nLight has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $79.81.

Insider Transactions at nLight

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 177,572 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,501,068.80. The trade was a 16.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $3,200,412.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,375,519 shares in the company, valued at $162,675,541.12. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 391,038 shares of company stock valued at $28,367,419. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

About nLight

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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