nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• nLight carries a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 11 brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of $75.50. The group includes eight buy ratings, one strong buy, one hold, and one sell.
• Several analysts recently turned more positive on the stock, including Stifel Nicolaus, which raised its price target to $85, and Raymond James, which reiterated a strong-buy rating with a $100 target. William Blair also initiated coverage with an outperform rating.
• Insiders have been selling shares, with CEO Scott H. Keeney and CFO Joseph John Corso both making Rule 10b5-1 sales tied to tax withholding on equity awards. Despite that, nLight beat quarterly estimates with $0.20 EPS and $80.18 million in revenue, while revenue jumped 55.2% year over year.

Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.50.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. William Blair assumed coverage on nLight in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded nLight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 16,089 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.60, for a total transaction of $1,200,239.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,185,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,003,909.40. This trade represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,817 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.90, for a total value of $278,259.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 169,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,386,803.50. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 391,038 shares of company stock worth $28,367,419. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of nLight by 1,599.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of nLight by 7,142.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of nLight by 155.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of nLight during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. 83.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

nLight Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LASR opened at $61.37 on Monday. nLight has a one year low of $17.84 and a one year high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of -204.56 and a beta of 2.31. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.69.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The firm had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

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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