Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO Sells 3,249 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Chief Accounting Officer James Nias sold 3,249 shares on March 5 at an average price of $61.96 for about $201,308, lowering his holdings to 95,707 shares (a 3.28% ownership decrease) per the SEC filing.
• nLight beat recent quarterly estimates with $0.14 EPS versus $0.11 expected and $81.19M in revenue (up 71.3% year-over-year), but remains unprofitable with a negative net margin (-8.98%) and negative return on equity (-9.28%).
• Analysts are broadly positive—MarketBeat shows a "Moderate Buy" consensus with an average price target of $58.31 and several firms issuing higher targets (up to $95)—and institutional investors own about 83.88% of the stock.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $201,308.04. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 95,707 shares in the company, valued at $5,930,005.72. This represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded up $2.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $61.00. 1,689,616 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,992,397. The stock's 50-day moving average is $49.25 and its 200-day moving average is $38.16. nLight has a 52 week low of $6.20 and a 52 week high of $69.52. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -129.79 and a beta of 2.27.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.71 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The company's revenue was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in nLight by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of nLight by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,301 shares of the company's stock valued at $661,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in nLight by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,745 shares of the company's stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in nLight by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,574 shares of the company's stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in nLight by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on LASR. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of nLight to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, nLight currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.31.

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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