Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP - Free Report) by 1,168.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,988 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 39,599 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of IPG Photonics worth $4,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in IPGP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of IPG Photonics during the 4th quarter valued at $35,901,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in IPG Photonics in the first quarter worth $30,069,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 18.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,795 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $186,788,000 after acquiring an additional 270,190 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 83.6% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 578,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $63,474,000 after acquiring an additional 263,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 137.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 385,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $42,291,000 after acquiring an additional 222,900 shares during the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at $618,575,242.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $62,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,575,242.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,629 shares of company stock worth $1,815,300. Corporate insiders own 37.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on IPGP. StockNews.com cut shares of IPG Photonics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. Citigroup cut shares of IPG Photonics from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reissued a "buy" rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $117.20.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of IPG Photonics stock traded down $0.98 on Friday, hitting $86.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 218,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,676. IPG Photonics Co. has a 1 year low of $83.00 and a 1 year high of $141.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.53.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $298.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.03 million. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The company's revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.91) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

IPG Photonics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.