IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, a growth of 14.4% from the August 31st total of 1,320,000 shares. Approximately 5.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 256,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $127.00 to $100.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Benchmark lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in IPG Photonics in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,365,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 58.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 489,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,282,000 after acquiring an additional 180,951 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in IPG Photonics in the first quarter worth approximately $15,929,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,029 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $84,054,000 after acquiring an additional 125,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 123.5% in the 4th quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 216,978 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,551,000 after purchasing an additional 119,900 shares during the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of IPGP traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $74.32. 212,964 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 266,819. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.88 and its 200-day moving average is $81.21. IPG Photonics has a fifty-two week low of $61.86 and a fifty-two week high of $111.11. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15 and a beta of 1.00.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $257.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $259.31 million. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that IPG Photonics will post 1.38 EPS for the current 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.