Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells 100,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• nLight CEO Scott Keeney sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $41.01, generating $4.1 million. The sale was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan and reduced his direct ownership by 4.85%.
• LASR shares fell to $39.29, well below their 12-month high of $86.95. Despite negative net income, nLight beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue rising 33.8% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 83.88% of nLight, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $87.94.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CEO Scott Keeney sold 100,000 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.01, for a total value of $4,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,960,034 shares in the company, valued at $80,380,994.34. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LASR traded down $1.70 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.29. 770,272 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,443,249. nLight has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -157.16 and a beta of 2.30. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $57.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.24.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $82.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.58 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 4.02% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. nLight's revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the 2nd quarter worth $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 7,636.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,262,345 shares of the company's stock worth $296,744,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207,248 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company's stock worth $69,684,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in nLight by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,485,000 after purchasing an additional 341,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in nLight by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,320,000 after purchasing an additional 20,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LASR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded nLight from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on nLight in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.94.

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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