Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Makes New $43,000 Investment in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in IPG Photonics by 636.6% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 204,502 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,197,000 after acquiring an additional 176,739 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,039,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $308,587,000 after buying an additional 85,984 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 2,136.2% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 82,739 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,401,000 after buying an additional 79,039 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in IPG Photonics by 9.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 836,794 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $84,968,000 after buying an additional 73,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in IPG Photonics by 46.7% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 175,099 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $17,780,000 after acquiring an additional 55,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at IPG Photonics

In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $62,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total transaction of $895,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,209,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $645,691,686.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,629 shares of company stock valued at $1,815,300 in the last ninety days. 33.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IPGP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup cut IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

IPGP traded up $2.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.05. 250,412 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 293,067. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.19. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52 week low of $83.00 and a 52 week high of $141.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.40.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $298.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.03 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 17.00%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.91) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

IPG Photonics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 13th that allows the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.