nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Trading Up 5.8% on Analyst Upgrade

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)’s share price was up 5.8% on Monday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $27.50 to $33.50. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. nLight traded as high as $30.56 and last traded at $30.32. Approximately 289,958 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 634,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.67.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Benchmark upped their price objective on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “speculative buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $27.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 38,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total value of $1,083,054.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 273,118 shares in the company, valued at $7,726,508.22. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 35,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.29, for a total transaction of $1,010,858.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,513,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,113,534.86. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 337,080 shares of company stock valued at $9,048,167. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in nLight by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 478,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,021,000 after acquiring an additional 46,881 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in nLight by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 61,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $647,000 after acquiring an additional 24,367 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in nLight by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 209,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 87,788 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in nLight by 65.2% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 38,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 15,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in nLight by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

nLight Stock Up 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 4.41. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.29 and a beta of 2.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.18.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.15. nLight had a negative net margin of 21.66% and a negative return on equity of 19.12%. The company had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. nLight’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share 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.