Short Interest in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Rises By 10.3%

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, an increase of 10.3% from the May 31st total of 1,070,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 224,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $74.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark decreased their target price on IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.40.

Insider Transactions at IPG Photonics

In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 9,000 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $618,243,430.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Jeanmarie F. Desmond sold 985 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $83,922.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $367,978.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 9,000 shares of IPG Photonics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total value of $772,740.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,200,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,243,430.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,773 shares of company stock valued at $927,030. Corporate insiders own 38.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IPGP. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in IPG Photonics by 185.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,455 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,514,000 after acquiring an additional 28,893 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 320.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 16,770 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,703,000 after purchasing an additional 12,781 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 6,449 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $8,401,000 after buying an additional 79,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 2.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 131,891 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,392,000 after buying an additional 3,276 shares during the period. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of IPG Photonics stock opened at $83.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48 and a beta of 1.01. IPG Photonics has a 1-year low of $80.27 and a 1-year high of $141.85.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $252.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that IPG Photonics will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.