Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) Short Interest Update

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,780,000 shares, an increase of 6.1% from the December 15th total of 2,620,000 shares. Approximately 7.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 228,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 12.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AEIS. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Advanced Energy Industries in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.89.

Advanced Energy Industries Stock Up 1.3 %

AEIS stock opened at $121.16 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 106.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.46. Advanced Energy Industries has a 12 month low of $89.11 and a 12 month high of $128.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.62 and a quick ratio of 3.32.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $374.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $372.49 million. Advanced Energy Industries had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Advanced Energy Industries will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Energy Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Advanced Energy Industries’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

Insider Activity at Advanced Energy Industries

In related news, Director Lanesha Minnix sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.72, for a total value of $111,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,878.24. The trade was a 16.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Advanced Energy Industries

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 8.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 209,522 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $22,788,000 after purchasing an additional 15,590 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 950,977 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $103,428,000 after acquiring an additional 15,577 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 37,850 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,117,000 after acquiring an additional 8,108 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,259 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Advanced Energy Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

About Advanced Energy Industries

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.