William Blair Initiates Coverage on nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)

Equities research analysts at William Blair initiated coverage on shares of nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on nLight from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on nLight in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded nLight to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.31.

nLight Trading Up 0.7%

LASR stock opened at $64.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of -136.85 and a beta of 2.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.86. nLight has a 1-year low of $6.20 and a 1-year high of $74.10.

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

Insider Transactions at nLight

In other nLight news, Director Raymond A. Link sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total value of $627,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 92,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,847.04. This trade represents a 9.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $201,308.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 95,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,930,005.72. The trade was a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 162,528 shares of company stock valued at $9,223,597 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LASR. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in nLight during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of nLight by 7,871.4% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted 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 valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of nLight by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,399,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,485,000 after buying an additional 341,948 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by 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.