Fernwood Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 19.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,435 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 1,349.8% during the fourth 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 grew its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 2,136.2% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 82,739 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,401,000 after acquiring an additional 79,039 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 23,595 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $308,587,000 after purchasing an additional 85,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in IPG Photonics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $960,000. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

IPG Photonics Trading Down 4.6 %

IPG Photonics stock traded down $4.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.47. The stock had a trading volume of 141,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 288,868. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52-week low of $80.33 and a 52-week high of $141.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.21.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last announced 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). IPG Photonics had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $298.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.91) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at IPG Photonics

In other IPG Photonics news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $895,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,209,599 shares in the company, valued at $645,691,686.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,525,140 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

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.