Legal & General Group Plc Sells 33,617 Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 196,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 33,617 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.45% of IPG Photonics worth $14,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 375.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 304,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,107,000 after purchasing an additional 240,000 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 437.2% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 178,925 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,011,000 after purchasing an additional 145,616 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of IPG Photonics in the fourth quarter worth about $8,815,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 375,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,310,000 after buying an additional 95,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 1,076.7% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 93,866 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,826,000 after acquiring an additional 85,889 shares during the period. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, CL King raised IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.40.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ IPGP opened at $53.40 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.66. IPG Photonics Co. has a 52-week low of $48.59 and a 52-week high of $92.21. The company has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.78 and a beta of 0.97.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.05). IPG Photonics had a positive return on equity of 2.98% and a negative net margin of 18.58%. As a group, analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics 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.