IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Short Interest Up 20.9% in March

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a growth of 20.9% from the February 28th total of 1,290,000 shares. Approximately 6.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 342,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IPGP has been the topic of a number of research reports. CL King upgraded shares of IPG Photonics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of IPG Photonics from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of IPG Photonics from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IPG Photonics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 100.4% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 21,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 10,906 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in IPG Photonics by 42.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 38,787 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,883,000 after buying an additional 11,562 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,879,000 after buying an additional 19,307 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in IPG Photonics by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 249,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $18,168,000 after acquiring an additional 57,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 151,142 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,233,000 after purchasing an additional 28,003 shares during the last quarter. 93.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IPG Photonics Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of IPG Photonics stock opened at $58.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.19 and its 200-day moving average is $72.00. IPG Photonics has a 12-month low of $56.71 and a 12-month high of $92.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.30 and a beta of 1.04.

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

IPG Photonics Company 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.