IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Short Interest Up 25.2% in May

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,790,000 shares, a growth of 25.2% from the April 30th total of 1,430,000 shares. Currently, 7.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 393,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC increased its stake in IPG Photonics by 42.5% during 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in IPG Photonics by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,620 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,879,000 after acquiring an additional 19,307 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in IPG Photonics by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 249,830 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $18,168,000 after acquiring an additional 57,780 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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. raised its holdings in shares of 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.79% of the company's stock.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IPGP traded up $1.08 on Thursday, reaching $69.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 59,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 335,148. IPG Photonics has a 52-week low of $48.59 and a 52-week high of $92.21. The stock's 50-day moving average is $60.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.58 and a beta of 0.92.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 EPS 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 business had revenue of $227.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that IPG Photonics will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%.

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.