Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,439 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 42.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 38,787 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 11,562 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,620 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,879,000 after buying an additional 19,307 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 249,830 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $18,168,000 after buying an additional 57,780 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 375.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 304,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $22,107,000 after buying an additional 240,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 1,076.7% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 93,866 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $6,826,000 after buying an additional 85,889 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IPGP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised IPG Photonics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on IPG Photonics from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on IPG Photonics from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price objective on IPG Photonics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, CL King upgraded IPG Photonics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $76.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $69.50.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

IPGP stock traded down $2.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.91. 161,275 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 294,922. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.59 and a 200-day moving average of $66.49. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52-week low of $48.59 and a 52-week high of $92.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.77 and a beta of 0.90.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.10. IPG Photonics had a positive return on equity of 2.98% and a negative net margin of 18.58%. The firm had revenue of $227.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that IPG Photonics Co. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

IPG Photonics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%.

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.