IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $138.75.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on IPG Photonics from $160.00 to $152.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on IPG Photonics from $100.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded IPG Photonics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on IPG Photonics from $110.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on IPG Photonics from $140.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd.

IPGP stock opened at $112.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.65, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.21. IPG Photonics has a twelve month low of $79.88 and a twelve month high of $134.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.96 and a 200-day moving average of $109.82.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP - Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $347.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $330.60 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 4.62% and a net margin of 7.14%. The company's revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that IPG Photonics will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 16,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.20, for a total transaction of $2,016,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,378,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $901,603,697.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 16,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.20, for a total transaction of $2,016,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,378,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $901,603,697.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeanmarie F. Desmond sold 1,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.70, for a total value of $129,446.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at $581,848.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,930 shares of company stock valued at $6,860,044. 37.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in IPG Photonics during the 1st quarter valued at about $236,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in IPG Photonics by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 30,611 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,775,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of IPG Photonics in the first quarter worth $573,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 36.2% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 82,121 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $10,127,000 after purchasing an additional 21,848 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 969.8% in the first quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 138,956 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $17,134,000 after purchasing an additional 125,967 shares during the period. 63.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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