IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.20.

IPGP has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,100. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other IPG Photonics news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $856,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,575,242.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,100. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,629 shares of company stock worth $1,815,300 over the last three months. 37.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $308,587,000 after purchasing an additional 85,984 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 9.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 836,794 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $84,968,000 after buying an additional 73,182 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 789,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $85,750,000 after buying an additional 8,445 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in IPG Photonics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,719,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in IPG Photonics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 388,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,141,000 after acquiring an additional 5,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

IPG Photonics Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of IPGP stock opened at $85.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $87.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.48. IPG Photonics has a 52-week low of $83.00 and a 52-week high of $141.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.72 and a beta of 1.19.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $298.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.03 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 17.00%. The company’s revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.91) EPS. Analysts expect that IPG Photonics will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About IPG Photonics

IPG Photonics Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells various high-performance fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and diode lasers used in various applications primarily in materials processing worldwide. Its laser products include hybrid fiber-solid state lasers with green and ultraviolet wavelengths; fiber pigtailed packaged diodes and fiber coupled direct diode laser systems; high-energy pulsed lasers, multi-wavelength and tunable lasers, and single-polarization and single-frequency lasers; and high-power optical fiber delivery cables, fiber couplers, beam switches, chillers, scanners, and other accessories.