IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Director Eric Meurice Sells 788 Shares

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,472,646.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

IPG Photonics Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of IPGP opened at $83.55 on Thursday. IPG Photonics Co. has a 12-month low of $80.33 and a 12-month high of $141.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.08.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 7.67%. The business had revenue of $252.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $255.53 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IPGP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Wednesday. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IPG Photonics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.60.

Institutional Trading of IPG Photonics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in IPG Photonics by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 13,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 922 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in IPG Photonics by 127.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

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.