Analysts Set IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Target Price at $117.20

Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $117.20.

IPGP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a "buy" rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of IPG Photonics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of IPG Photonics from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th.

Insider Activity at IPG Photonics

In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,649,100. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other IPG Photonics news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $62,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $895,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,209,599 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $645,691,686.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,629 shares of company stock valued at $1,815,300. 33.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in IPG Photonics by 127.2% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 259 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 39.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 612 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.79% of the company's stock.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

NASDAQ IPGP traded up $2.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $88.05. 250,412 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 293,067. The company's 50-day moving average is $87.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.40. IPG Photonics has a one year low of $83.00 and a one year high of $141.85. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.19.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $298.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.91) earnings per share. IPG Photonics's revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that IPG Photonics will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.