James Nias Sells 1,618 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

Key Points

• nLight CAO James Nias sold 1,618 shares on May 19 at an average price of $68.48, for proceeds of about $110,801. The sale was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to equity awards.
• nLight’s stock rose sharply, trading up 7.2% to $76.43. The company now has a market cap of about $4.31 billion and shares are well above both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• The company beat earnings expectations in its latest quarterly report, posting EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million versus $72.14 million estimated. Revenue jumped 55.2% year over year, and analysts remain mostly bullish with several buy ratings and higher price targets.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CAO James Nias sold 1,618 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $110,800.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,876.48. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 20th, James Nias sold 415 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total value of $29,502.35.
• On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $110,833.30.
• On Friday, May 15th, James Nias sold 1,487 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $111,762.92.
• On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total value of $116,471.36.
• On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04.

nLight Trading Up 7.2%

Shares of nLight stock traded up $5.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $76.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,031,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,495. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -254.76 and a beta of 2.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.88. nLight has a 52 week low of $13.38 and a 52 week high of $86.95.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LASR shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, April 24th. William Blair started coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on nLight in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.06.

More nLight News

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

• Positive Sentiment: nLight reported strong quarterly results earlier this month, with EPS of $0.20 versus estimates of $0.08 and revenue of $80.18 million versus expectations of $72.14 million. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth story and helping support the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms reiterating or raising buy ratings and price targets, including targets as high as $100. That suggests the market still sees room for more upside in LASR.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed by CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias. The company said the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
• Neutral Sentiment: The selling was sizable in dollar terms, especially from the CEO and CFO, so investors may still view it as a sentiment headwind even though the transactions appear routine.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in nLight by 161,736.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company's stock worth $2,350,000 after buying an additional 79,251 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in nLight during the third quarter worth approximately $8,626,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in nLight by 6,151.0% during the third quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company's stock worth $1,239,000 after buying an additional 41,150 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in nLight by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company's stock worth $187,166,000 after buying an additional 125,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in nLight during the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% 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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