Raymond Link Sells 10,000 Shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock

Key Points

• Director Raymond Link sold 10,000 shares of nLight on March 11 at an average price of $62.79 for roughly $627,900, cutting his stake by 9.75% to 92,576 shares (about $5.81M).
• nLight beat quarterly EPS estimates (reported $0.14 vs $0.11 expected) and posted revenue of $81.19M, up 71.3% year-over-year, though the company remains unprofitable with negative net margin and return on equity.
• The stock traded near $62.60 (close to the insider sale price), the company has a $3.49B market cap, analysts are largely positive with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and ~$58.31 target, and institutional investors own about 83.9% of the shares.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR - Get Free Report) Director Raymond Link sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total value of $627,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 92,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,812,847.04. This represents a 9.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

nLight Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LASR traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $62.60. 1,059,219 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,115,248. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.01. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -133.19 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a 1-year low of $6.20 and a 1-year high of $69.52.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LASR. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of nLight to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of nLight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in nLight by 161,736.7% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,350,000 after acquiring an additional 79,251 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in nLight during the 3rd quarter worth $8,626,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of nLight by 48,328.6% in the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,560 shares of the company's stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 13,532 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC increased its position in shares of nLight by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 2,107,348 shares of the company's stock worth $41,473,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bosun Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter valued at about $599,000. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.