Joseph John Corso Sells 18,445 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

Key Points

• nLight CFO Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares on May 15 at an average price of $75.16, for proceeds of about $1.39 million. The sale reduced his stake by 6.81% and was tied to tax withholding from vested equity awards.
• nLight reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.20 versus the $0.08 consensus estimate and revenue of $80.18 million, up 55.2% year over year. Despite the beat, the company still posted negative net margin and return on equity.
• Analysts remain generally positive on the stock, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.81. Recent actions included rating upgrades from Wall Street Zen and Stifel Nicolaus, though Weiss Ratings kept a sell rating.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) CFO Joseph John Corso sold 18,445 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $1,386,326.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 252,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,974,217.16. This represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Joseph John Corso also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, May 18th, Joseph John Corso sold 19,575 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $1,386,301.50.
• On Friday, March 6th, Joseph John Corso sold 12,290 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.39, for a total value of $742,193.10.
• On Thursday, March 5th, Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $807,834.48.

nLight Trading Down 1.9%

nLight stock traded down $1.34 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.49. 997,065 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,332,100. The business's 50 day moving average is $68.02 and its 200 day moving average is $51.29. nLight has a 52 week low of $12.45 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.63 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.nLight's revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that nLight will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LASR. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair began coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, nLight currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of nLight by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in nLight by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,808 shares of the company's stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in nLight by 1.6% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in nLight by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company's stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.88% of the company's stock.

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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