Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Advanced Energy Industries from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Advanced Energy Industries from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price target (down from $135.00) on shares of Advanced Energy Industries in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.67.

Advanced Energy Industries Stock Performance

Shares of AEIS stock opened at $110.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 3.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Advanced Energy Industries has a 12-month low of $75.01 and a 12-month high of $132.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $98.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.13. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.50.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The electronics maker reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $404.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $392.36 million. Advanced Energy Industries had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 8.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Analysts expect that Advanced Energy Industries will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Energy Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 26th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Advanced Energy Industries’s payout ratio is 20.62%.

Insider Activity

In other Advanced Energy Industries news, COO Eduardo Bernal Acebedo sold 19,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.61, for a total transaction of $2,155,077.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,822 shares in the company, valued at $2,212,333.42. This represents a 49.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lanesha Minnix sold 1,600 shares of Advanced Energy Industries stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.37, for a total value of $206,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,760.04. The trade was a 31.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Advanced Energy Industries

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEIS. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Advanced Energy Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $522,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Advanced Energy Industries by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,857 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $463,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 2.4% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 27,275 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries during the first quarter worth $255,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 43.0% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 7,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 2,288 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Advanced Energy Industries Company Profile

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc provides precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's plasma power products offer solutions to enable innovation for semiconductor and thin film plasma processes, such as dry etch and deposition.