IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Short Interest Up 12.2% in October

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, an increase of 12.2% from the September 30th total of 1,470,000 shares. Approximately 6.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 254,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on IPGP shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of IPG Photonics from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Raymond James dropped their price target on IPG Photonics from $127.00 to $100.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IPG Photonics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IPGP. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in IPG Photonics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in IPG Photonics in the second quarter worth $85,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in IPG Photonics by 94.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,728 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in IPG Photonics by 97.6% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,964 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 226.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689 shares during the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IPG Photonics Stock Performance

IPGP traded down $2.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $80.96. 386,304 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 267,146. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 1.00. IPG Photonics has a 12-month low of $61.86 and a 12-month high of $111.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.25.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.10. IPG Photonics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $233.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.89 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. IPG Photonics’s quarterly revenue was down 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IPG Photonics will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.