IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Short Interest Update

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 867,800 shares, a growth of 15.2% from the March 31st total of 753,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 310,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at IPG Photonics

In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $856,800.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,140. Insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IPG Photonics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IPGP. CWM LLC boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 123.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 837 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,179 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates bought a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics during the 3rd quarter worth $314,000. Ardevora Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP now owns 172,038 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $17,469,000 after acquiring an additional 28,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of IPGP stock opened at $83.98 on Wednesday. IPG Photonics has a 12-month low of $80.33 and a 12-month high of $141.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.15.

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

IPG Photonics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IPGP has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup cut IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.20.

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.