nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Price Up 11.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• nLight shares rose 11.8% after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from hold to buy, with the shares trading as high as $82.23.
• Other analysts remain mostly bullish, including Raymond James with a strong-buy rating and a $100 target, while the overall consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average target price of $67.81.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $0.20 versus $0.08 expected and revenue of $80.18 million, up 55.2% year over year.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 11.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $82.23 and last traded at $82.6190. 318,531 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 1,552,104 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.91.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on LASR. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price 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. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO James Nias sold 3,249 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 95,707 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. The trade was a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $1,997,528.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,252,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $139,582,310.76. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 130,780 shares of company stock worth $8,032,729. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in nLight by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,989,758 shares of the company's stock worth $187,166,000 after purchasing an additional 125,446 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in nLight by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,857,740 shares of the company's stock worth $69,684,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in nLight by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company's stock worth $52,485,000 after purchasing an additional 341,948 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in nLight by 1.7% in the fourth 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. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in nLight in the fourth quarter worth about $41,315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company's stock.

nLight Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -275.68 and a beta of 2.34. The firm's fifty day moving average is $65.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.73.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative net margin of 5.08% and a negative return on equity of 5.17%. The company had revenue of $80.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. nLight's revenue was up 55.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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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