IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Director Sells $70,368.40 in Stock

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.30, for a total value of $70,368.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,472,646.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of IPGP stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $83.55. The company had a trading volume of 322,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 294,734. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $87.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.15. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52-week low of $80.33 and a 52-week high of $141.85.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $252.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.53 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 17.00%. The company’s revenue was down 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

IPG Photonics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 1,349.8% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 44,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,872,000 after purchasing an additional 41,791 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 2,136.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 82,739 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,401,000 after buying an additional 79,039 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 56,965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,183,000 after buying an additional 23,595 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $308,587,000 after buying an additional 85,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in IPG Photonics during the third quarter worth $960,000. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on IPGP shares. Citigroup cut IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 17th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.60.

IPG Photonics Company Profile

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.