Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CEO Sells 115,252 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• nLight CEO Scott Keeney sold 115,252 shares at an average price of $41.32, generating approximately $4.76 million; the sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan and reduced his direct ownership by 5.3%.
• LASR shares recently traded at $39.29, well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $57.70 and $64.24, respectively, while the stock remains down from its 52-week high of $86.95.
• nLight exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.15 EPS and $82.59 million in revenue, up 33.8% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $87.94, although the company continues to post negative net margins.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CEO Scott Keeney sold 115,252 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.32, for a total transaction of $4,762,212.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,060,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $85,120,604.88. This trade represents a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.29. The company had a trading volume of 770,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,443,249. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $57.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.24. nLight has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $86.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -157.16 and a beta of 2.30.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in nLight during the second quarter worth $339,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised 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 valued at $296,744,000 after acquiring an additional 4,207,248 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 3.6% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of nLight by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company's stock worth $52,485,000 after acquiring an additional 341,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of nLight by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,696 shares of the company's stock worth $46,320,000 after purchasing an additional 20,043 shares during the period. 83.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LASR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Craig Hallum raised their price target on nLight from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on nLight in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of nLight from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of nLight from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.94.

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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