Kennedy Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) by 25.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 33,326 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,781 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in IPG Photonics were worth $3,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IPGP. Caxton Associates LP raised its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 100.7% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 9,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $854,000 after buying an additional 4,726 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of IPG Photonics by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in IPG Photonics during the first quarter worth $1,201,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in IPG Photonics by 97.6% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IPG Photonics during the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at IPG Photonics

In other news, Director Jeanmarie F. Desmond sold 985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $83,922.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at $367,978.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 38.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IPGP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark cut shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on IPG Photonics from $74.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.40.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

IPGP stock traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $82.62. 40,196 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 265,228. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93 and a beta of 1.01. IPG Photonics Co. has a 1-year low of $79.80 and a 1-year high of $132.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.81.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $257.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $259.31 million. IPG Photonics had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 15.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that IPG Photonics Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.