Citigroup Cuts IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) Price Target to $68.00

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) had its target price decreased by Citigroup from $74.00 to $68.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a sell rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on IPGP. Seaport Res Ptn reissued a buy rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $116.00 to $106.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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 report on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $110.40.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of IPG Photonics stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $86.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 253,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 230,527. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.95. IPG Photonics has a one year low of $80.33 and a one year high of $141.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 1.17.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.53 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that IPG Photonics will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at $618,575,242.32. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 link. Also, Director Eric Meurice sold 788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,472,646.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,788 shares of company stock worth $2,595,508 in the last quarter. 37.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of IPG Photonics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 127.2% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of IPG Photonics during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of IPG Photonics during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 612 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AM Squared Ltd increased its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

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.