Valentin Gapontsev Trust I Sells 9,000 Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Stock

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 9,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total transaction of $772,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,200,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,243,430.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Valentin Gapontsev Trust I also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 25th, Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $895,600.00.
• On Friday, February 23rd, Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

IPGP stock opened at $88.24 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.36. The company 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $83.00 and a 1-year high of $141.85.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $298.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.03 million. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business’s revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.91) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics announced 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Trading of IPG Photonics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 1,349.8% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 44,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,872,000 after purchasing an additional 41,791 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 2,136.2% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 82,739 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,401,000 after purchasing an additional 79,039 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 56,965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,183,000 after purchasing an additional 23,595 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $308,587,000 after purchasing an additional 85,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in IPG Photonics in the third quarter worth about $960,000. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.