IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) Price Target Lowered to $152.00 at Citigroup

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP – Get Rating) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $160.00 to $152.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on IPGP. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on IPG Photonics from $110.00 to $145.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on IPG Photonics from $100.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on IPG Photonics from $140.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $135.00.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IPGP opened at $112.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.89. IPG Photonics has a 52 week low of $79.88 and a 52 week high of $134.81.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $347.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.60 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 4.62% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that IPG Photonics will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

IPG Photonics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 16,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.20, for a total transaction of $2,016,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,378,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,603,697.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 49,500 shares of company stock worth $5,823,923 in the last 90 days. 33.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,319 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. ETF Managers Group LLC raised its position in IPG Photonics by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC now owns 6,576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in IPG Photonics by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,650 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in IPG Photonics by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 14,250 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in IPG Photonics by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.50% of the company’s stock.

About IPG Photonics

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IPG Photonics Corp. engages in the design, development, production and distribution of fiber lasers, laser systems, fiber amplifiers, and related optical components. Its products include lasers, beam delivery, medical, telecom equipment, product finder and components such as pump diodes, chillers, and mid-IR crystals.