Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Purchases 2,427 Shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,403 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 2,427 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $2,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IPGP. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 123.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 837 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 3.7% during the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,179 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates bought a new stake in IPG Photonics during the third quarter worth $314,000. Ardevora Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 19.6% during the third quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP now owns 172,038 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $17,469,000 after buying an additional 28,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in IPG Photonics by 4.8% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $62,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Eric Meurice sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Valentin Gapontsev Trust I sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total value of $772,740.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,200,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,243,430.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,629 shares of company stock valued at $2,588,040 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on IPG Photonics from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup downgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.20.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:IPGP traded up $0.49 during trading on Monday, reaching $88.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 116,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 288,970. IPG Photonics Co. has a 12 month low of $83.00 and a 12 month high of $141.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.73 and a 200-day moving average of $94.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.19.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.91) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that IPG Photonics Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IPG Photonics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 13th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.