nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on LASR. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of nLight from $40.00 to $62.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of nLight to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on nLight from $44.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

nLight Stock Down 16.0%

Shares of LASR stock opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.07 and a 200-day moving average of $42.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of -114.89 and a beta of 2.27. nLight has a 12 month low of $6.20 and a 12 month high of $74.10.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. nLight had a negative net margin of 8.98% and a negative return on equity of 9.28%. The business had revenue of $81.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) earnings per share. nLight’s revenue was up 71.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that nLight will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 13,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $807,834.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 183,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,350,204.56. The trade was a 6.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 32,239 shares of nLight stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $139,582,310.76. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 162,528 shares of company stock worth $9,223,597 in the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LASR. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in nLight in the 3rd quarter worth $8,626,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in nLight by 161,736.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 79,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 79,251 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of nLight by 6,151.0% in the 3rd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 41,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after buying an additional 41,150 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC grew 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 valued at $41,473,000 after acquiring an additional 34,348 shares during the period. Finally, Bosun Asset Management LLC bought a new position in nLight during the second quarter worth about $599,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.