Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $128.70 and last traded at $127.47, with a volume of 52518 shares. The stock had previously closed at $121.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AEIS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upgraded Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $110.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday. Baird R W upgraded Advanced Energy Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Advanced Energy Industries from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.78.

Advanced Energy Industries Stock Down 5.2 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $115.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.62 and a quick ratio of 3.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.10, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.46.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $374.20 million during 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 revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Energy Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Advanced Energy Industries’s payout ratio is 35.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Advanced Energy Industries news, Director Lanesha Minnix sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.72, for a total transaction of $111,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,878.24. This represents a 16.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Advanced Energy Industries

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEIS. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 13.5% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,681,776 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $182,910,000 after purchasing an additional 199,578 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Advanced Energy Industries by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 647,682 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,442,000 after buying an additional 118,328 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Advanced Energy Industries during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,306,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 12.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,848 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $50,920,000 after acquiring an additional 53,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Advanced Energy Industries in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,736,000. 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.