Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Stake in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,538 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 7,544 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.14% of IPG Photonics worth $7,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 85,984 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 9.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 836,794 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $84,968,000 after buying an additional 73,182 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in IPG Photonics by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 248,273 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,210,000 after acquiring an additional 8,098 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 214,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,312,000 after acquiring an additional 4,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 55,700 shares during the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IPG Photonics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IPGP opened at $85.37 on Wednesday. IPG Photonics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.00 and a fifty-two week high of $141.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $87.73 and a 200-day moving average of $94.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.19.

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

IPG Photonics declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 13th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IPGP has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 17th. Citigroup lowered shares of IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $111.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.20.

Insider Activity

In other IPG Photonics news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $62,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the company’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 directly owns 16,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,649,100. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,219,599 shares in the company, valued at $618,575,242.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,629 shares of company stock valued at $1,815,300. Insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

About IPG Photonics

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.