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

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

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of nLight in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of nLight from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “speculative buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of nLight from $12.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of nLight from $18.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, nLight presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.42.

nLight Stock Performance

LASR opened at $30.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.47 and a beta of 2.48. nLight has a 1-year low of $6.20 and a 1-year high of $32.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 5.63 and a quick ratio of 4.41.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.15. The business had revenue of $61.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.24 million. nLight had a negative net margin of 21.66% and a negative return on equity of 19.12%. The company’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. nLight has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts forecast that nLight will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 62,507 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total value of $1,937,091.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,319,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,866,987.62. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total transaction of $106,671.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 265,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,890,877.14. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 374,980 shares of company stock worth $10,650,501. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in nLight by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,667,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,495,000 after buying an additional 74,163 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in nLight by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 3,034,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,575,000 after buying an additional 156,285 shares during the period. Harvey Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 34,348 shares during the period. AWM Investment Company Inc. increased its stake in nLight by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. now owns 1,344,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,468,000 after buying an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in nLight by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,215,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,925,000 after buying an additional 68,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.