IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) Hits New 1-Year Low at $80.33

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)’s share price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $80.33 and last traded at $83.28, with a volume of 92663 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $88.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.60.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $87.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.08.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last announced its earnings results 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. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 15.34%. The business had revenue of $252.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.4% 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 authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at IPG Photonics

In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,472,646.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $895,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,209,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $645,691,686.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,472,646.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,788 shares of company stock valued at $2,595,508 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 made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 2.9% during the third 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 valued at $84,968,000 after purchasing an additional 73,182 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 789,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,750,000 after purchasing an additional 8,445 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of IPG Photonics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,719,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 388,257 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,141,000 after buying an additional 5,958 shares during the period. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.