Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stock Position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 37,024 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $4,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in IPG Photonics by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 612 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in IPG Photonics during the third quarter worth approximately $89,000. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at IPG Photonics

In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,472,646.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at $618,575,242.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,472,646.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,788 shares of company stock worth $2,595,508 over the last quarter. 33.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on IPGP. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on IPG Photonics from $74.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.40.

IPG Photonics Trading Up 1.9 %

IPGP stock opened at $88.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.93. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78 and a beta of 1.17. IPG Photonics Co. has a twelve month low of $80.33 and a twelve month high of $141.85.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $255.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that IPG Photonics Co. will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

IPG Photonics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.