Short Interest in IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) Rises By 19.7%

IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the November 30th total of 1,420,000 shares. Currently, 6.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 266,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Institutional Trading of IPG Photonics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IPGP. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in IPG Photonics by 14.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,029 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $84,054,000 after acquiring an additional 125,958 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of IPG Photonics by 5.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 971,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $72,168,000 after acquiring an additional 54,166 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in IPG Photonics by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 671,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,871,000 after purchasing an additional 181,844 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 534,833 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,749,000 after purchasing an additional 43,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of IPG Photonics by 10.7% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 479,301 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $40,448,000 after buying an additional 46,252 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IPGP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of IPG Photonics in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of IPG Photonics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IPG Photonics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.50.

IPG Photonics Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IPGP traded down $2.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.42. 162,954 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 213,780. IPG Photonics has a fifty-two week low of $61.86 and a fifty-two week high of $110.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.16 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.58.

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.10. IPG Photonics had a negative net margin of 14.20% and a positive return on equity of 4.32%. The firm had revenue of $233.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that IPG Photonics will post 1.51 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.