Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Has $1.36 Million Position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,521 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $1,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 127.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in IPG Photonics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd increased its position in IPG Photonics by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 123.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 837 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at IPG Photonics

In other news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,575,242.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other IPG Photonics news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $856,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,219,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,575,242.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,629 shares of company stock valued at $2,588,040. 37.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IPGP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 17th. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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 note on Thursday, February 15th. One 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of IPGP traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.40. The stock had a trading volume of 251,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 291,232. IPG Photonics Co. has a 1-year low of $83.00 and a 1-year high of $141.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.47 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.32.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last announced its quarterly 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). IPG Photonics had a net margin of 17.00% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $298.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $287.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.91) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership 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.