California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,847 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 3,159 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $6,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James & Associates grew 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 valued at $4,872,000 after purchasing an additional 41,791 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 2,136.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 82,739 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,401,000 after buying an additional 79,039 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 56,965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,183,000 after buying an additional 23,595 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $308,587,000 after buying an additional 85,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of IPG Photonics in the 3rd quarter worth $960,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

IPG Photonics Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of IPGP stock opened at $86.76 on Friday. IPG Photonics Co. has a twelve month low of $80.33 and a twelve month high of $141.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.97.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 7.67%. The company had revenue of $252.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $255.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

IPG Photonics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at IPG Photonics

In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.30, for a total transaction of $70,368.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,472,646.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.30, for a total value of $70,368.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,472,646.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $895,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,209,599 shares in the company, valued at $645,691,686.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,788 shares of company stock worth $2,595,508 in the last 90 days. 37.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on IPGP shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on 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 dropped their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $74.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.40.

IPG Photonics Company 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.