Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,426 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $5,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IPGP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in IPG Photonics by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $308,587,000 after buying an additional 85,984 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 836,794 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $84,968,000 after purchasing an additional 73,182 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 248,273 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,210,000 after purchasing an additional 8,098 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in IPG Photonics by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 214,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,312,000 after purchasing an additional 4,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 46.7% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 175,099 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $17,780,000 after purchasing an additional 55,700 shares during the period. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IPGP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 17th. Citigroup downgraded shares of IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,575,242.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $856,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,219,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,575,242.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,629 shares of company stock valued at $2,588,040. Insiders own 37.10% of the company’s stock.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of IPGP stock opened at $88.24 on Friday. IPG Photonics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.00 and a fifty-two week high of $141.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 1.19.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued its earnings results 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%. IPG Photonics’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.91) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

IPG Photonics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

IPG Photonics 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.