HighTower Advisors LLC Invests $1.49 Million in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 15,820 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,490,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IPGP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,849,934 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $422,568,000 after purchasing an additional 24,859 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,559,937 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $280,980,000 after purchasing an additional 37,842 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,701,795 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $186,788,000 after purchasing an additional 270,190 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 702,254 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,238,000 after purchasing an additional 91,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 687,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $75,465,000 after purchasing an additional 8,539 shares during the last quarter. 63.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IPG Photonics news, Director Jeanmarie F. Desmond sold 1,180 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.70, for a total value of $129,446.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $581,848.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other IPG Photonics news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 8,250 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Friday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.60, for a total value of $953,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,369,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $851,954,544.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeanmarie F. Desmond sold 1,180 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.70, for a total transaction of $129,446.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,848.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 58,930 shares of company stock worth $6,860,044. Insiders own 37.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on IPGP. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $140.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $110.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of IPG Photonics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of IPG Photonics from $100.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of IPG Photonics from $160.00 to $152.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.00.

IPG Photonics Stock Up 1.6 %

IPGP opened at $111.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $115.45 and its 200-day moving average is $108.73. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52-week low of $79.88 and a 52-week high of $134.81.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $347.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.60 million. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 4.62%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that IPG Photonics Co. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About IPG Photonics

(Get Rating)

IPG Photonics Corp. engages in the design, development, production and distribution of fiber lasers, laser systems, fiber amplifiers, and related optical components. Its products include lasers, beam delivery, medical, telecom equipment, product finder and components such as pump diodes, chillers, and mid-IR crystals.