nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.4167.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LASR. Benchmark increased their price target on nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “speculative buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price (up previously from $14.00) on shares of nLight in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on nLight from $14.00 to $27.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th.

nLight Trading Up 4.6%

NASDAQ:LASR opened at $27.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.63, a current ratio of 5.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. nLight has a 1-year low of $6.20 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.16 and a beta of 2.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.19.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.15. nLight had a negative return on equity of 19.12% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.10) EPS. nLight’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other nLight news, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 10,062 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.62, for a total transaction of $177,292.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 166,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,931,298.44. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 75,000 shares of nLight stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.33, for a total value of $1,149,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,342,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,587,070.91. This trade represents a 5.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 201,915 shares of company stock worth $3,445,301. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On nLight

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of nLight in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,491,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of nLight by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 13,532 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of nLight by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 107,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,114,000 after buying an additional 7,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of nLight by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 75,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.88% of the company’s stock.

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.