Insider Selling: nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) CAO Sells 415 Shares of Stock

Posted by Stanley Muller on May 21st, 2026

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR – Get Free Report) CAO James Nias sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total value of $29,502.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,006,701.49. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

James Nias also recently made the following trade(s):

On Tuesday, May 19th, James Nias sold 1,618 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total value of $110,800.64.
On Monday, May 18th, James Nias sold 1,565 shares of nLight stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.82, for a total value of $110,833.30.
On Friday, May 15th, James Nias sold 1,487 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $111,762.92.
On Thursday, March 12th, James Nias sold 1,808 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.42, for a total value of $116,471.36.
On Thursday, March 5th, James Nias sold 3,249 shares of nLight stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $201,308.04.

nLight Price Performance

Shares of LASR stock traded up $5.13 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $76.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,031,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,495. nLight has a 12 month low of $13.38 and a 12 month high of $86.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.88. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -254.76 and a beta of 2.34.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.nLight’s quarterly revenue was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that nLight will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on LASR shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on nLight in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. William Blair started coverage on nLight in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of nLight in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

Read Our Latest Analysis on nLight

Institutional Trading of nLight

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LASR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in nLight in the fourth quarter worth $41,315,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in nLight by 377.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,057,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,327,000 after buying an additional 835,720 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of nLight in the third quarter valued at $22,809,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of nLight by 18.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,864,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,130,000 after purchasing an additional 747,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of nLight by 537.8% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 631,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after purchasing an additional 532,470 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting nLight

Here are the key news stories impacting nLight this week:

Positive Sentiment: nLight reported strong quarterly results earlier this month, with EPS of $0.20 versus estimates of $0.08 and revenue of $80.18 million versus expectations of $72.14 million. Revenue also rose 55.2% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth story and helping support the stock.
Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms reiterating or raising buy ratings and price targets, including targets as high as $100. That suggests the market still sees room for more upside in LASR.
Neutral Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed by CEO Scott H. Keeney, CFO Joseph John Corso, and CAO James Nias. The company said the trades were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans and to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less concerning than discretionary selling.
Neutral Sentiment: The selling was sizable in dollar terms, especially from the CEO and CFO, so investors may still view it as a sentiment headwind even though the transactions appear routine.

About nLight

(Get Free Report)

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.