Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 85,984 Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,984 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.48% of IPG Photonics worth $308,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank raised its position in IPG Photonics by 105.0% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 205 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 127.2% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in IPG Photonics by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in IPG Photonics by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 612 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IPGP. Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup downgraded shares of IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.20.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IPGP opened at $90.57 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.07. IPG Photonics Co. has a one year low of $83.00 and a one year high of $141.85. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 1.18.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.91) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at IPG Photonics

In other IPG Photonics news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,209,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $645,691,686.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,100. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,629 shares of company stock valued at $1,815,300 over the last quarter. 33.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.